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Carney Drops Into Airshow With BOE Weighing Interest-Rate Hike

Carney Drops Into Airshow as BOE Weighs Interest-Rate Take Off

(Bloomberg) -- As Mark Carney considers whether to pilot the Bank of England to a second interest-rate increase in a year, he’ll be heading to the Farnborough International Airshow.

Due to a scheduling clash, lawmakers on Parliament’s Treasury Committee have taken the unusual step of relocating their regular hearing on the central bank’s Financial Stability Report to the biennial aerospace trade event some 30 miles southwest of central London.

BOE watchers will be keeping their eyes on governor, instead of the skies, as the event marks his last scheduled appearance before policy makers go into purdah on July 25.

Carney looks set to face questions ranging from Britain’s preparedness for Brexit to how commercial banks might face a crash landing, as well as world trade and consumer debt. He’ll be joined by Deputy Governor for Financial Stability Jon Cunliffe and External Financial Policy Committee Member Elisabeth Stheeman, as well as the Financial Conduct Authority’s Chief Executive -- and the man tipped as the next BOE head -- Andrew Bailey.

Neither Carney nor Cunliffe -- who both sit on the rate-setting committee -- are currently scheduled to make any further public comments after tomorrow’s event. Silvana Tenreyro will give an interview to the Evening Standard newspaper later this week, while Deputy Governor for Monetary Policy Ben Broadbent is set to deliver a speech on quantitative easing next Monday.

After a turbulent start to the year for the U.K. economy and Brexit clouding the horizon, BOE officials are widely anticipated to raise rates by 25 basis points on Aug. 2. Chief Economist Andy Haldane unexpectedly threw his support behind an immediate increase at policy makers’ June meetings and Carney further bolstered expectations earlier this month when he said recent data had been encouraging.

The Treasury Committee, which oversees the work of both the BOE and FCA, is at Farnborough to meet with businesses as part of its inquiries into small and medium-sized businesses and Britain’s exit from the European Union. The airshow, which is the biggest event of its kind this year, will welcome up to 100,000 visitors and 1,500 exhibitors.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lucy Meakin in London at lmeakin1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Brian Swint

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