Bank of England Governor to face Economic Affairs Committee questions
Monday 17 May 2021
At 3pm on Tuesday 18 May 2021 the Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, will give evidence to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee’s inquiry on Quantitative Easing (QE).
He will be joined by the Bank’s Deputy Governor for Monetary Policy, Ben Broadbent, and Deputy Governor for Markets and Banking, Sir Dave Ramsden.
These evidence sessions will be held remotely and streamed on Parliament TV.
Question they are likely to face include:
- How effective has QE been and has this effectiveness diminished over time?
- What is the purpose of QE, and has this changed at different stages since it was introduced in 2009?
- How much, and what type, of coordination took place between the Bank of England and HM Treasury during the pandemic?
- Has the expansion of QE, and the expanded role of central banks generally, left the Bank vulnerable to greater political pressure being exerted upon it?
- What are the risks if the Bank’s balance sheet remains structurally large?
- Could the latest round of QE exacerbate inflationary pressures?
- What does the Bank’s new climate change mandate entail?
More on this inquiry
The committee is examining Quantitative Easing in the context of the Bank of England’s operational independence, its accountability and the transparency of its decision-making. It is also considering the economic effects of QE, what risks are entailed, its distributional impacts and the future of the programme.
On Tuesday 27 April 2021 the committee took evidence from: Lord Macpherson of Earl’s Court, former Permanent Secretary to the Treasury 2005 – 2016; Ed Balls, Professor of Political Economy, King’s College London; Otmar Issing, President of the Center for Financial Studies and former Chief Economist of the ECB 1998-2006; and Donald Kohn, former Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. You can watch the sessions back on Parliament TV.
More on the Economic Affairs Committee
The Economic Affairs Committee is the House of Lords permanent investigative committee charged with considering economic affairs.
Committee Website
Twitter - @LordsEconCom
The committee has 13 members:
Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (chair)
