News Release
Statement by the Governor
21 October 1998
Eddie George, Governor of the Bank of England, commented today:
I was disappointed to see the misinterpretation of my remarks to the regional newspapers yesterday. In fact, I said explicitly that rising unemployment in the North East was undesirable.
In response to a journalist's suggestion that regional unemployment was an "acceptable price to pay" I made it clear - as I have very often before - that monetary policy can only target the situation in the economy as a whole, not particular regions or sectors, however uncomfortable that reality might be. I pointed out among other things that stable monetary policy had allowed unemployment in the economy as a whole to fall to the lowest level it has been in 18 years.
