Carney: Bank’s forecasts were ‘off’

MARK Carney yesterday admitted his gloomy forecasts for Brexit Britain were ‘slightly off’ as the Bank of England raised its outlook for the economy.

Declaring that British exporters are in a ‘sweet spot’, the governor said he now expects the economy to grow by 1.8 per cent this year. That compares with the 1.6 per cent the central bank forecast in November.

The Bank also nudged up its forecasts for both 2019 and 2020 from 1.7 to 1.8 per cent.

And it now believes the economy grew by 1.9 per cent last year – more than double the 0.8 per cent the Bank predicted in the aftermath of the Brexit vote. Asked about its Brexit forecasts, Mr Carney said the Bank was right to warn that a vote to leave would send the pound down and inflation up. But he added that it was ‘slightly off on growth’.

Brexit supporters accused Mr Carney of signing up to Project Fear before the referendum when he warned a vote to leave could tip the economy into recession.

Outlining the Bank’s forecasts yesterday, Mr Carney said Britain was benefiting from the pick-up in the global economy and ‘the past depreciation of sterling’. He added: ‘British exporters are in a sweet spot.’