LONDON Reuters Bank of England interestrate setter Jonathan Haskel said reducing stimulus was not the right option for the foreseeable future, despite rising inflation, distancing himself from two colleagues who last week said tighter policy might be needed.

In the immediate term, the risk of a preemptive monetary tightening curtailing the recovery continues to outweigh the risk of a temporary period of abovetarget inflation, Haskel, a member of the BoEs Monetary Policy Committee, said in a speech during an event organised by the University of Liverpool.

For the foreseeable future, in my view, tight policy isnt the right policy.

The value of sterling slipped after Haskels comments and British government bond prices rose to a days high.

Last week, two other MPC members said the time might be nearing for the BoE to rein in the huge stimulus programme it deployed last year to steer the British economy through the coronavirus pandemic.

Haskel said inflation was likely to exceed 3 by the end of the year well above the BoEs 2 target but that this would probably be fleeting due to the effect of a oneoff rise in energy prices and comparing prices now with the deep economic slump of 2020.

These pressures and erratic data readings should be temporary and therefore could be looked through, he said.

In addition, the economy is fully not recovered yet and faces two headwinds over the coming months the highly transmissible Delta variant and a tightening of the fiscal…