The Deputy Governor for Monetary Policy at the Bank of England, Charlie Bean, delivered the PNE Group’s Annual Lunchtime Lecture in Gateshead on Friday 27 November. His lecture was part of a visit organised by the Bank‘s Agency for the North East, which is based just outside Newcastle city centre.

The theme of Mr Bean’s lecture was the downturn in the world economy and the global recovery. Compared to most of the G20, he said that the UK economy was perhaps still “bumping along the bottom”, a point that he had also made in an interview with The Journal that was published on 27 November.  He also talked on the background to the crisis and the monetary policy responses taken by the Bank of England, which saw a rapid reduction in Bank Rate in late 2008 and early 2009 to 0.5%, followed by the introduction of unconventional policy measures under the quantitative easing (QE) programme. Mr Bean went on to explain the aims and structure of the QE programme.

Looking ahead, Mr Bean said he expects some expansion in the UK economy in the final quarter of this year, with a further strengthening next year. He also commented that a credible plan to reduce the size of the fiscal deficit was needed during the next parliament to assist the economic recovery.

The audience comprised of a wide cross section of business people, including many working in the third sector, and was an ideal opportunity for the Bank to put across its monetary policy message to a different part of the wider business community.