This was the headline on a BBC News Facebook post this morning, followed by this sub-heading:
The governor of the Bank of England told UK ministers he’s preparing for a worst case scenario.
Well, I started to get worried. But for a change I then read the article which did, indeed, contain the comments above. Luckily for us the ever-sensible Kamal Ahmed (BBC Economics Editor) explained that this is not what the Governor of the Bank of England was predicting would actually happen but was, in fact, a possible outcome of the worst case scenario:
“It was an apocalyptic test where the Bank deliberately sets the parameters beyond what might reasonably be expected to occur. The major banks all passed the test, giving reassurance that the financial system can cope with whatever happens next year.
The Governor believes that a “no deal” scenario would be bad for the economy. But not as bad as the headlines today which are based on a doomsday scenario that is not actually forecast to happen.”
So why did the BBC use those headlines?
A bit of scaremongering?
What is the BBC’s agenda?
Incidentally, Mark Carney also warned in 2016 that the risks of leaving “could possibly include a technical recession”. amongst other, cataclysmic warnings about the effect on the economy immediately following a leave vote.
This enabled Prime Minister David Cameron to warn that this amounted to “a very clear message” of the dangers of Brexit.
The recession didn’t happen of course although the value of the pound did fall. Some economists have since argued that the pound was overvalued at this time and that a fall in value was overdue.
Yr Hen Ddyn Grwgnachlyd 