But it is those very things that make intelligence from the Townhalls distinctive and valuable. Statistical surveys cannot capture narrative in a way conversations can. The Townhall visits have been one of the most enlightening things I have done in my almost 30 years at the Bank of England. The Bank has recently expanded and deepened its range of local initiatives. One of these is Citizens’ Panels.63 After a couple of trials last year, the Bank recently began rolling-out Citizens’ Panels across each of its regional agencies. These panels have an independent external chair, drawn from the local region, to facilitate discussion. Each is attended by a senior Bank policymaker. Messages from the panels will be drawn together periodically and published externally. Complementing Citizens’ Panels, the Bank’s direct engagement with community groups is now being expanded through a set of “Community Forums”, working in partnership with local charities and community groups. The Governor recently launched these forums with events in Tower Hamlets and Glasgow. Other Governors and Directors have their own Community Forums planned through this year and beyond. The Bank’s education programme also has strong local presence. The educational materials developed by the Bank for 11-16 year olds, econoME, have been taken up by a third of schools across the UK. Last year, staff ambassadors visited close to 300 schools across the UK to deliver talks on the economy and economic policy. These are examples of a central bank acting locally.
This accordingly holds even if activity does move into a more subdued phase. •  The overall picture of inflation is also complicated by the krona having been weak recently instead of appreciating as we assumed in October. Moreover, the price of oil remains high. This may mean that the earlier tendency for import prices to counter what has otherwise been gradually growing domestic inflationary pressure may not apply to the same extent. In this respect, then, the outlook is more in line with the risk spectrum we outlined in the October Report than with our main scenario there. The composite assessment of the various risks associated with wage formation, the exchange rate, the price of oil and the possibility of weaker activity is naturally a matter of judgement. In my opinion, however, inflation prospects in general are now somewhat more troublesome than before. There has clearly been a gradual increase in resource utilisation. The overall assessment of activity in the coming years implies that growth will continue to be above the level of 2.0 to 2.5% that the Riksbank considers to be sustainable in the longer run. That applies even if there is a slight slowdown in international activity. There are also the high price of oil, the weakening of the exchange rate and signs of some disturbing tendencies in wage formation. To some extent, therefore, the situation for monetary policy has changed. That is also why I began by saying that the time will soon come to raise the repo rate.