BOEs Bailey Says Get an EU Trade Deal or Everyone Loses Out

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey urged the U.K. government and the European Union to reach a trade deal or risk seeing their economies suffer.

“It is in the interests of all parties to this process that we can get an agreement and we have open markets,” he said in a webinar hosted by Queens University Belfast on Tuesday. “Nobody benefits from closing borders, and nobody benefits from closing markets, and nobody benefits from protectionism.”

Britain and the EU are entering their final scheduled negotiating round this week with the aim of sealing a deal in time for a summit of EU leaders on Oct. 15-16. Failure to have an agreement in place by Dec. 31 would mean tariffs and border checks as Britain leaves the single market.

The uncertainty surrounding the troubled talks is weighing on the regions economies just as they struggle to recover from the coronavirus crisis. Bailey said the BOE expects economic growth to slow after the strong summer rebound.

Most economists predict both the BOE and the European Central Bank will boost their bond-buying programs later this year.

— With assistance by Lucy Meakin, and David Goodman