Chief economist of the Bank of England, Huw Pill, said the question of whether those who left the workforce during the pandemic will return is one of the biggest unknowns facing the UK economy as he indicated that interest rate rises still have some way to go in efforts to bring soaring inflation back to the central bank’s 2% target.
Cardiff-born Mr Pill, who took up his three-year term as the bank’s chief economist last September, voted in line with the Monetary Policy Committee’s majority position to increase rates by 0.25% to 1% earlier this month.
With the impact of soaring energy and food costs – which following supply chain issues caused by Covid have been exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and a new wave of pandemic lockdowns in China – inflation, currently at 9%, is forecast by the central bank to reach 10% by year end.
