Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey says ‘things look better’ than a year ago

The Governor of the Bank of England said things in the UK look better than they did a year ago in a nod to the mini-budget chaos of last autumn.

Speaking at the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s annual meeting in Marrakech, Morocco, Andrew Bailey said he was one of the few people there who could point to things being better now.

“From an economic point of view, if we look back over the last year I would say I’m probably the one person that can come in here and say things really do look better today than they did on this day last year,” he said.

“I can say that with some confidence.”

Mr Bailey has previously spoken about his experience of last year’s IMF meeting in Washington, which happened shortly after then-prime minister Liz Truss and then-chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget.

“People were saying, ‘We didn’t think the UK would do this’,” he told the Treasury Select Committee last year.

On Friday, he said there are signs inflation is coming down but there is much left to do.

He said the Bank’s policy will continue to be “restrictive”.

Mr Bailey added: “We have made, I think, particularly in the last few months, solid progress in terms of showing signs that inflation is being tackled.

“But let’s not get carried away because there’s an awful lot still to do.

“I think many of us now see policy operating in a restrictive fashion and I’m obviously going to have to say that I think that’s what it needs to do.”

Mr Bailey said this will have an impact on the UK’s economy and is contributing to a “subdued outlook” for the country.

But without getting inflation back to target, that outlook would be even more subdued, he said.

He said last month’s decision to keep interest rates at 5.25% was “a tight one” and predicted “they’re going to go on being tight ones”.