BoE's Broadbent - won't risk economy to meet inflation target: BBC

LONDON (Reuters) - Bank of England Deputy Governor Ben Broadbent said the central bank would not raise interest rates for the sake of meeting its 2 percent inflation target if it risked hurting the economy, in an interview published on Monday. Broadbent said raising rates could lead to "undesirable consequences" such as lower economic growth and higher unemployment, BBC News quoted him as saying. His comments were similar to those of Governor Mark Carney, who said on Friday he was willing to allow inflation to run "a bit" higher than the target to help the economy grow. British inflation is expected to rise sharply in 2017 as the impact of the fall in the value of the pound since the country's Brexit vote in June pushes up the price of imported goods. (Reporting by Andy Bruce; editing by William Schomberg)