MPC hawk Ben Broadbent backs off from quantitative easing

New boy Ben Broadbent today appeared to shy away from a return to the money printing presses in his maiden speech as a member of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee.

The former Goldman Sachs economist - seen as a hawk likely to be pushing on the MPC for interest rate rises - said the Bank's inflation-targeting credibility looked "reasonably robust" but should not be taken for granted.

Broadbent added that "even credible monetary policy has its limits".

Minutes of the MPC's September meeting revealed growing momentum behind another dose of quantitative easing to steer the ailing economy away from the threat of a double-dip recession amid growing fears over the US and eurozone.

But with inflation more than double the Bank's 2% target at 4.5%, the cautious tone of Broadbent's comments suggests he is not yet ready to back more QE beyond the £200 billion already sanctioned by the committee in 2009.

He argued that the Bank was right not to "stick rigidly" to the inflation target during the height of the crisis to avoid huge surges in unemployment.

However, the Bank could only pursue this course through monetary policy "within limits" to retain its credibility. But he added that slow US growth and Europe's sovereign debt crisis "all threaten a further tightening in retail credit and a further slowing in domestic activity".