MPC member pays Island a visit

Friday 26th October 2007, 12:00AM BST.

ONE of the nine members of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) visited the Island briefly on Tuesday.

Kate Barker has been an external member of the MPC since 2001 and was previously chief economic adviser at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and before that chief European economist at Ford Motor Company.

The MPC, which meets monthly, is responsible for setting interest rates to meet the UK government’s inflation target, which in turn decides the interest rates for mortgages, loans and savings offered by financial institutions to UK and Channel Island residents.

The bank rate also has a heavy influence on the islands’ inflation and Retail Price Indices, of which housing costs are a major part.

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