SINTRA, Portugal (Reuters) – Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said last week’s rise in interest rates reflected a resilient economy and unexpectedly persistent inflation, sticking closely to his message after the BoE raised rates to 5% from 4.5%.
“The cumulative data – both particularly on the labour market and on the inflation release we had, which to us showed clear signs of persistence – caused us to conclude that we had to make really quite a strong move,” Bailey said at a European Central Bank forum in Sintra, Portugal.
Bailey added that in his view the unexpected half-point rate rise was preferable to two consecutive quarter-point moves.
(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi and Francesco Canepa; writing by David Milliken; editing by William Schomberg)