Bank talks up economy

THE chief economist at the Bank of England has admitted the economy is in a better position than previously thought, defying doom-laden predictions.

Huw Pill said recent surveys suggest ‘the current momentum in economic activity may be slightly stronger than anticipated’. And in a surprise to economists, private sector pay growth had leaned ‘slightly to the upside’, Mr Pill told business leaders in Wales yesterday.

A gloomy forecast from the Bank of England last month warned that Britain would see a shallow but long recession of more than a year. Mr Pill’s words came a day after the Bank’s governor Andrew Bailey downplayed talk of further sharp rises in interest rates.