UK's Osborne denies policy changes failed

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne. File picture: Reuters

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne. File picture: Reuters

Published Jan 24, 2014

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Davos, Switzerland - George Osborne, Britain's economic minister, has dismissed suggestions that the Bank of England's strategy to link monetary policy to unemployment has been a failure.

Figures this week showing UK unemployment rate down at 7.1 percent stoked speculation that the Bank would start raising interest rates soon.

Last year, the bank introduced “forward guidance” to its monetary policy framework, whereby it would not consider raising rates from their super-low levels until the unemployment rate was down at 7 percent.

However, in an interview Thursday with the BBC at the World Economic Forum, Carney said he was against “unnecessarily focusing on one indicator” in future.

That triggered talk that the concept had been abandoned.

Osborne told a panel Friday that Carney's plan to change the guidance was evidence the policy “works.” - Sapa-AP

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