Elderly exaggerate QE effect on pensions

Britain's top economist said the Bank's monetary easing programme is not as bad for the value of pensions as has been claimed. In a hearing at the House of Lords on Tuesday, he admitted he could not rule out an extension of QE, which was increased by £50bn in February to a total of £325bn. Sir Mervyn said the falling value of pensions was not the fault of the extra stimulus. "I'm concerned about what has happened to the pensions industry and defined benefit pensions but I think they reflect a wider set of issues. The decline cannot be laid at the door of our programme. "It might not have had quite such as big an effect as some people think." Sir Mervyn also risked raising tempers in the City by moralising over the fact many bankers are motivated purely by money. One of the most depressing things about some parts of the financial sector is that people seem to think their main objective of being in it is to earn enough money in order to leave it – as opposed to finding satisfaction and a life-long career within it," he said. Despite his downbeat assessment of the City's ethics, Sir Mervyn said he was optimistic the UK could return to growth rates seen before the financial crisis, although he believes it will take "some time" to more normal levels. In the eurozone, he said the loss of productivity and large deficits in some southern states meant there would be "no quick resolution" to the crisis. He expects the celebrations for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee could slow growth in the economy. The traditional late May bank holiday has been moved to Monday June 4, and the next day has also been designated a break to mark the event. "We do expect quite possibly a fall in output in the second quarter, followed by a rise in the third quarter, as we will lose an extra day's work - it doesn't necessarily follow that we will lose that whole day's output - because of the national bank holiday," the governor said. "Last year we saw that pattern again (due to the Royal Wedding). We would expect that to happen again." He also indicated that continuing pressure on banks to deleverage was partly responsible for inhibiting their scope to lend. "Even though funding costs have come down in the first couple of months of this year, they're still higher than they were a couple of months ago because of what's going on in the euro area," he said. He said he did not know whether the Bank would need to launch a fresh round of quantitative easing to address problems.