The Bank of England (BoE) Governor Mark Carney repeated at a press conference on Thursday that the time for interest rate hike is nearing.

"The likely timing of the first bank rate increase is drawing closer. However the exact timing of the first move cannot be predicted in advance," he said.

Carney added that the timing of the interest rate hike will depend on the economic data.

"The strength of sterling, and even taking into account the fiscal cosolidation that were going to see over the coming years and the weakness in global demand, we see robust private sector growth here and consistent with that is a need to begin to increase interest rates," the BoE governor noted.