Carney takes monetary policy message to Liverpool
Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney visits the UK's north west city of Liverpool in the hope of enlightening locals on what the central bank does for those outside of the Square Mile. The FT's Claire Jones reports.
Produced and filmed by James Sandy. Edited by Olly McGuirk.
Transcript
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This is a very important period in the UK's economic history.
Mark Carney and some of the Bank of England's other top officials were in Liverpool on Thursday. They went to local schools and then to the town centre to speak to local people about what it is exactly the bank does.
First off for Mr Carney was Alsop High School in Walton, one of the more deprived parts of Merseyside. Unemployment and rates of child poverty here are high. Annual household incomes here are less than many bankers in the City of London earn in a month.
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The bank's been around for a long time. It's been around 323 years. It was founded in 1694, and its purpose, its original mission, is the same mission as we have today, which is to promote the good of the people of the United Kingdom.
Beyond simply explaining their work, this visit was a chance for Mr Carney and his colleagues to demonstrate the efforts the bank is making to be more inclusive. But can he really expect to find common ground with people outside of the Square Mile?
So you've come today to an area where there's a lot of child poverty rates. Unemployment's quite high, household disposable incomes are in a year what people in the City would earn in a fortnight or a month. How do you talk about money in a way that's sensitive to people who are really struggling with their everyday lives?
The average footballer not far from here is earning $40,000 a week. An MD in the city is probably earning $25,000 a week. The average wage across Merseyside is about 500 pounds a week. Inflation hurts the poorest the most, and so that's why it's important that we keep prices low and stable. What we want to do, more generally, is to provide tools to understand the economy and how to make economic decisions. And so what we're doing is making available a bunch of tools for children, 11 to 16, and helping them think about how to manage money.
For the students and teachers at Alsop High, it seems as though the visit may have had the intended impact.
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It was a fantastic opportunity for the school. It was also a fantastic opportunity for young people. I think they had a tremendous impact.
I think it was good that they were chosen to do it with all sorts of demographics. Teaching people like us, it's given us an understanding from an earlier age.
I was very happy, actually seeing the face behind the bank and behind the government, and the force that runs our economy. It made me feel more confident with how the government runs itself, especially in a time like today with such issues like Brexit.
There's this sense that the bank itself is part of an elite that cares more about the city of London than the rest of the country. How would you take those criticisms?
Well, I don't think they're valid at all. But if people have those perspectives, you have to address them head on. And part of the way you address them is you come to see them. I mean, we have agencies in all 12, all regions and home nations of the country. I go to all those regions. My fellow governors do.
The Bank of England will remain a mystery to many people in the UK beyond today, but steps such as this-- going into schools, speaking to the general public-- does help broaden understanding of what the country's monetary policy makers do. Claire Jones, Financial Times. Liverpool.