Bank of England's Weale: need to look beyond oil price fall

LONDON: The recent sharp fall in oil prices is separate to the outlook for where inflation will be in two years' time, a Bank of England policymaker, who has been voting for a hike in interest rates, said.

"When we set monetary policy, we do it with reference to where we think inflation is going to be in about two years' time," Martin Weale told BBC radio in an interview broadcast on Monday.

"What we have seen over the last few months is a very sharp fall in oil prices that has a direct first-round effect on the rate of inflation. But it's a separate issue to where inflation is going to be in, say, two years' time," he said.