The_Guardian_-_2016-12-29

Here is Carney’s year in quotes:
A new year warning
Carney started the year on a gloomy note by pouring cold water on market talk of a rate rise, saying
UK growth was still too weak.
Amid turmoil in global markets in January, Carney said the UK faced “a powerful set of forces”.
“The world is weaker and UK growth has slowed,” he added. “The year has turned and in my view
the decision proved straightforward. Now is not yet the time to raise interest rates.”
His new stance marked something of a climbdown on his guidance in the summer of 2015 that a
decision about raising rates would “come into sharper relief” at the end of the year. That did little to
help shake off the tag of “unreliable boyfriend” given to the Bank governor by one MP.
The kindness of strangers
In one of many warnings to come about the potential consequences of a vote for Brexit, Carney said in
January that concerns about a UK exit from the EU could test “the kindness of strangers” – a reference
to the global investors who fund the UK’s big current account deficit with the rest of the world.
“The global general environment has become much more febrile, much more volatile, and relying on
the kindness of strangers is not optimal in that kind of environment,” Carney told MPs.
We’re not out of ammunition
In February at a G20 meeting in Shanghai, Carney argued that central banks still had some firepower
left to prop up the global recovery, but he warned that politicians must not rely solely on low interest
rates and should use government policy to help boost growth.
“Several commentators are peddling the myth that monetary policy is ‘out of ammunition’ … This is
wrong, but the widespread absence of global price pressures demands that our firepower be well
aimed,” Carney said.
Carney defends Bank over Brexit warnings