Alistair Darling must avoid at all costs the temptation to tamper with the Bank of England's inflation target, one of the members of the Monetary Policy Committee has warned, The Telegraph reports.
Tim Besley, the MPC member who voted for a quarter percentage point rise in interest rates at its meeting earlier this month, said following proposals from politicians and economists to change the type of inflation targeted or the length of the MPC's target horizon would be "entirely counterproductive". In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Prof Besley also admitted that, at their current level, interest rates are dampening growth in the economy, but that they should be raised in order to prevent more pain later. The MPC is obliged to keep the Consumer Price Index as close as possi...
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