We May Need to Print More Money?

One of the Bank of England’s leading economists has warned it may need to print even more money to bolster the sickly economy.

In a sign of growing fears over a double-dip recession, Dr Martin Weale signalled that it will step up its money-printing scheme if growth does not pick up soon.

The warning came before the Bank has even begun distributing the extra £75billion it set aside for its quantitative easing (QE) programme just days ago.

Today two new reports on Britain’s economic prospects make grim reading for ministers - predicting that growth could go into reverse next year as confidence levels in plunged to two-year lows.

In addition, Dr Weale’s comments came as the country braces itself for the worst labour market figures since the depths of the recession of the early 1990s.

Economists predict official data released on Wednesday will show unemployment rose by 90,000 to 2.54 million in the three months to August, pushing the jobless rate up to eight per cent. That is the worst figure for 17 years.

But Dr Weale, a member of the rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee, yesterday admitted there was ‘quite a lot of scope’ for QE to be expanded.

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