19.09.201703:05:00UTC+00BoE’s Carney Reiterates Hawkish View on U.K. Interest Rates

Bank of Governor Mark Carney echoed the hawkish tone by several members of the Monetary Policy committee following their September meeting, stating that a rate hike may be necessary as the UK economy begins to feel the impact from Brexit.

Speaking in Washington, the BoE head said that while the country's decision to withdraw from the EU has hampered growth, he noted that it also hurt the economy's potential.

Carney's speech echoes the unexpected hawkish tone from U.K. policymakers last week an underlines the difficulty of the task BoE faces as Britain negotiates its exit from the European union after being a member for over four decades. As of the moment, negotiations are at an impasse, leaving officials to navigate a process riddled with politics uncertainty. There are also ambiguity surrounding issues such as migration, the labor market, trade and investment.

The BoE governor said that leaving the EU will at least temporarily lower the openness of the economy because any substitute agreements with other trade partners will need time to be agreed and will even take a longer period to have an impact on the economy.