Adam Posen warns Sir Mervyn King is being worked too hard
THE TOP brass at the Bank of England are so overworked that it is harming their ability to work well – and the situation will only get worse as the Bank takes on more regulatory responsibility, former Monetary Policy Committee member Adam Posen warned yesterday.
“The governor and his two deputies work 18 hour days, seven days a week, 365 days a year, and that does not give them time to reflect, time to assimilate,” he told the Treasury Select Committee.
“There have been instances where that has run up against the committees, and with the Financial Services Authority folded back into the Bank, that is going to get worse.”
He also said the governor should act more as a chairman rather than an executive.
And Posen attacked suggestions that the Bank should abandon its current inflation targeting regime and choose a nominal GDP target to promote growth.
He argued a shift could lead to volatile prices and lose the anchor to inflation expectations which has been important in trying to keep the economy stable.