It contains the Bank’s inflation forecast, a sense of the risks surrounding the forecast, and a discussion of the forces conditioning the outlook for the economy. It also offers an account of the policy decisions the Board has made in the preceding period. Central bankers give public speeches on issues of the day.
In our case, we typically will take questions from the floor on such occasions as well. Sometimes the questions are even about the topic of the speech! The speeches, and the answers to questions, are routinely sifted by economists, the media and others for hints about the central bank’s intentions.