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London - New Bank of England (BoE) policymaker Gertjan Vlieghe established himself as one of the rate-setters least likely to vote for a interest rate hike soon, urging the bank to wait and see and warning of risks from a global economic slowdown.
In his first public comments since joining the central bank as a rate-setter from a hedge fund in September, Vlieghe said on Tuesday there was a greater chance that inflation in Britain would come in below target rather than above it.
"There are risks to either side, but given the current low levels of inflation the risks are probably skewed to the downside," Vlieghe told lawmakers in Britain's parliament.
Earlier on Tuesday, official data showed consumer price inflation in Britain dipped back below zero in September.
Despite Britain's recovery in the past two years, investors only expect a first BoE rate hike in late 2016 because inflation could stay weak if a slowdown in China and other developing nations worsens. Many economists expect a first hike earlier next year.
Vlieghe said the Bank should "wait and see" before raising borrowing costs, prompting one lawmaker to brand him a dove for sounding so cautious about the outlook.
Vlieghe said "one major risk is that global growth continues to disappoint," striking a more worried note about the risk of an impact on Britain from the world economy than most other policymakers at the BoE recently.
"It is one of the things that will prevent the UK economy from accelerating meaningfully" from its current pace of growth, he said.
Scotiabank economist Alan Clarke said Vlieghe did not look like "a die-hard dove" like Andy Haldane, the Bank's chief economist who has said the BoE's next move could be a rate cut.
Instead, Vlieghe could prove to be one of the Bank's more proactive members, backing loose policy now but possibly shifting quickly to support tighter policy in future, he said.
Only one of the BoE's nine rate setters, Ian McCafferty, has voted to raise rates in recent months.
McCafferty, who also spoke to parliament's Treasury Committee on Tuesday, sounded less worried than Vlieghe about the risks to Britain from the global economy and said the pressures pushing down on inflation were transitory.
He said there was a greater risk of inflation rising up above the BoE's 2% target than undershooting it.
When Vlieghe joined the Bank of England, he was allowed to keep a financial interest in his past employer, hedge fund Brevan Howard, where traders bet on interest rate moves.
But after that arrangement was criticised, Vlieghe said he would sever all links with the firm to avoid "any mistaken impression" of conflict of interest.
Asked about the issue on Tuesday, he told lawmakers there was misunderstanding in the reporting of his links to the fund but he could understand why some people had questions.
Vlieghe said the net amount he would receive from selling his interest was a "couple of hundred thousand pounds" which was "an amount of money that I would rather have than not have."
