6 7  6  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  6  expected to be gradual and, even once spare capacity had been absorbed, the appropriate level of Bank Rate was expected to be materially below the pre-crisis average of 5%. Out of that guidance came the phrase ‘limited and gradual’, so often repeated it has now become part of the monetary policy furniture. Importantly, it is widely recognised by UK households and businesses whose expectations of rate increases have remained well anchored as the recovery has progressed (Charts 3b and 3c) as well as by financial markets (Chart 3a). Similar guidance was subsequently adopted by the FOMC and ECB. 8  Chart 3: Households and businesses have consistently expected increases in interest rates to be gradual and limited a) Historic UK Bank Rate tightening cycles Cumulative change, percentage points 2.0 1.8 1.6  September 1994  September 1999  November 2003  October 2006  1.4 1.2 1.0  August 2006  0.8 0.6 May 2018 Inflation Report market interest rate path  November 2017  0.4 0.2 0.0  Months since first increase in Bank Rate Sources: Bank of England, Bloomberg Finance L.P. and Bank calculations. Notes: Tightening cycles since the start of inflation targeting in 1992. Tightening cycles are shown up to when interest rates reached their highest level before they were next reduced. The curve is estimated using instantaneous forward overnight index swap rates in the 15 working days to 2 May 2018.
15  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  15  Chart 10: With no monetary policy tightening, excess demand builds significantly and inflation remains above target May 2018 Inflation Report projections for inflation and growth Per cent / Per cent of potential GDP 4.0 3.5 Inflation projection market conditioning path  Inflation projection constant rate path  3.0 2.5 2.0  2% inflation target  Excess supply / demand projection - constant rate path  1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0  Excess supply / demand projection - market conditioning path 2012  2013  2014  2015  2016  2017  -0.5 -1.0 2018  2019  2020  2021  Of course, as the Committee has made clear before, its guidance about the likely gentle path of rate increases depends on the economy evolving broadly as expected – in particular, whether growth in demand exceeds that of supply. That might not happen. For example, the weakness in demand at the start of the year could reflect a worsening of the underlying economic climate, not the temporary effects of adverse weather as the Committee currently assesses. In particular, there is somewhat greater uncertainty about the near-term momentum in consumer spending at present, given recent weakness in consumer credit and the housing market across a range of indicators. Growth in consumer credit, particularly credit cards, slowed sharply in March. Retail sales volumes have been falling and profit warnings in the retail sector rising.