Bank of England will ‘step up QE’ if economy struggles again

Deputy governor sees no limit to gilt purchases
Sir Dave Ramsden, deputy governor for markets and banking, says the Bank still has “significant headroom”
Sir Dave Ramsden, deputy governor for markets and banking, says the Bank still has “significant headroom”
RAY WELLS

The Bank of England will do more and faster quantitative easing if the economy slows and markets wobble again, a senior official has said.

Sir Dave Ramsden, deputy governor for markets and banking and a member of the Bank’s monetary policy committee, said that the pace of gilt purchases under QE would accelerate if “we saw signs of [market] dysfunction” and that the Bank had “significant headroom to do more QE” if economic risks crystallised.

Sir Dave, 56, was speaking four days after the Bank released forecasts that showed the recession would not be as deep as was feared in May but that the recovery would be more drawn-out. Under its central projection, the Bank expects GDP to shrink by 9.5 per cent this