BoE Must Take Trade War Risk to Growth Very Seriously

• The Bank of England (BoE) is taking very seriously the risk to economic growth from the upheaval in global trade, Governor Andrew Bailey said on Wednesday, two weeks before the BoE's next interest rate decision and its latest economic forecasts.
• Bailey pointed to the IMF's sharp downgrade of its forecasts for economic growth in 2025 - both globally and in the UK - which were published on Tuesday.
• "We do have to take very seriously the risk to growth," Bailey told an event organised by the Institute of International Finance when asked how much the BoE had to consider the effects of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff and trade policy. "We're currently working through that because we've got an interest rate decision coming in two weeks' time," Bailey said.
• Investors on Wednesday assigned a 100% probability to the BoE cutting rates by a quarter of a percentage point on May 8 after the next scheduled Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

(Source: Reuters)