Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said on Tuesday that a rise in British government borrowing costs was not out of line with increases in other countries.
“We have seen steepening of yield curves going on now,” Bailey told lawmakers on parliament’s Treasury Committee.
“I think the important thing to say is that is a global phenomenon. It’s not in any sense unique to this country. In fact, the pattern in this country is not in any sense out of line with what we’ve seen in other markets, and we’ve seen steeper increases in some other markets.”
Rising borrowing costs were being driven by concerns about the impact on global trade from trade policy decisions and uncertainty about fiscal policy, he said.
U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on imports of many goods and has also won approval in Congress for tax cuts that are forecast to push up U.S. public debt.
Bailey was speaking to the Treasury Committee alongside other members of the BoE’s Financial Policy Committee.
Randall Kroszner, a former U.S. Federal Reserve official who is a member of the FPC, said he saw no clash between financial stability and a relaxation of regulations announced by finance minister Rachel Reeves.
“But always the devil is in the detail,” Kroszner said.
(Reporting by David Milliken and Suban Abdulla Writing by William Schomberg)
