BoE's Mann welcomes inflation data, wants improvement in underlying figures

LONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Bank ‌of England ​interest ​rate-setter Catherine Mann said British inflation data published this week represented "good numbers" although there was not as ‌much improvement in the underlying figures as the central ⁠bank had hoped to see.

Mann, in an interview with Kathleen Hays Presents: ‌Central Bank Central, a podcast, ‌said a recent rise in the unemployment rate was "very much of a concern" and the BoE was getting close "to some ​sense of where monetary policy is balanced between the inflation objective and full employment."

Data published on Wednesday showed British ⁠inflation fell to 3.0%, its lowest since March last year, but a measure of ​price pressures in the services sector remained strong.

Asked whether she would back a rate cut at the ​March meeting of the BoE's Monetary ‌Policy Committee, Mann said she was not sure that a projected fall of inflation to 2% ⁠in the coming months meant Britain had fixed its high inflation problem.

"It's actually pretty hard to tell exactly what is the sustainable or ⁠underlying trend rate of inflation, and whether or not the 2% that ​we are ... likely to see coming forward in the next few months is in fact a sustainable 2%," she said.

Mann voted with the majority ‌in a 5-4 decision by the MPC this month to keep rates on hold. She said ‌at the time that the time for a cut was ⁠closer.

Investors were putting the likelihood ‌of a quarter-point ​rate cut by the BoE in March at about 80% on Thursday.

(Writing by William Schomberg; editing by Suban ‌Abdulla)

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