British ministers should be free to voice their opinion on monetary policy given the scale of the global economic crisis, Business Secretary Vince Cable said on Saturday, adding to pressure on the Bank of England to do more to stimulate demand, according to Reuters. Cable has in recent days called for more quantitative easing (QE) to boost Britain's flagging economy, including the central bank buying corporate assets and not only government securities. A decision on further QE would be taken by the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which is independent of government, and is not within the remit of ministers. "Some people say why are cabinet ministers engaged in debate on monetary policy, the Bank of England was set up as an independent institution. But the situation has changed," Cable told delegates at his Liberal Democrat party's conference. "When you are dealing with monetary policy in the context (of where) we now are in the aftermath of this massive economic crisis, there is an overlap between the role of the central bank and government. It seems entirely appropriate to me that we have a debate around what it should be doing," he added. Economists increasingly expect the Bank to restart its bond-buying programme as the economy remains weak -- it has barely grown since last September -- and after keeping interest rates at a record low of 0.5 percent last week. -- SPA
