Who’s sorry now?
Apparently, Bank of England top economist Huw Pill, who sparked outrage last month after telling Britons they should “accept that they’re worse off,” when it comes to inflation.
“If I had the chance again to use different words I would use somewhat different words to describe the challenges we all face,” Pill said earlier this week, after taking heat for those comments, including from his boss, Bank of England Gov. Andrew Bailey.
In late April, the economist said households asking for higher pay and companies raising prices had been responding in a “self-defeating” way to surging costs. Consumer prices held above 10% in March and near 41-year highs, as food and household-energy prices remained elevated.
“And what we’re facing now is that reluctance to accept that yes, we’re all worse off, and we have to take our share,” Pill said, calling it a game of “pass the parcel.”
In a rare public reprimand, BOE Gov. Bailey told Bloomberg last week that the economist’s word choice “was not right,” and that the central bank was “very sensitive to the positions of people, especially people on lower incomes.” His remarks came the same day that the BOE made its 12th straight interest rate increase.
Speaking in a public question and answer session on Monday, Pill admitted that his word choice had been “inflammatory,” and that he’d strive to do better.
“I think much more importantly, it’s important to recognize from the outset that from an institutional point of view, from the position of the Bank of England, and also from a personal perspective, that we do recognize that we live in very difficult and challenging times and those challenges are particularly acute for some parts of society,” he said.
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