It’s time to worry about inflation

Andy Haldane is something of a Bank of England lifer. He’s retiring this week from his position as chief economist, but he’s been working at the central bank for more than 30 years. Next he will take up a position as chief executive of the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). Some of you will, I know, immediately think of his pension: imagine being about to receive 30 years’ built-up defined-benefit pension payouts. What joy.

But there’s a lot more to Haldane than a happy semi-retirement. He’s not just been a Bank of England lifer. He’s also been something of a Bank of England maverick. He’s been hugely critical of the financial sector, outspoken on bankers’ pay, forward thinking (not always in a way MoneyWeek readers would approve of) on the death of cash and certainly not shy when it comes to his opinions on all matters economic.

Last year, when much of the rest of his profession had gone, as he put it, “Chicken Licken” on the economy, he was telling them to stop “catastrophising” and start looking forward