In an interview with BBC on Friday, Bank of England (BoE) Governor Andrew Bailey said that “There is evidence of encouraging progress on inflation, we have to be vigilant.”

Additional quotes

“I'm very relieved that inflation is no longer rising like it was last year. “

“Companies should bear in mind that BoE forecasts inflation will fall.”

“I do not have evidence that companies are putting prices up more than necessary.”

“Risk of recession this year has gone down quite a lot.”

“Pretty strong likelihood we will avoid recession this year.”

Market reaction

GBP/USD is unable to take advantage of the upbeat remarks from the BoE Chief amid expectations of a rate hike pause in May. The pair is losing 0.35% on the day to trade at 1.2240, as of writing. Markets await the UK PMIs for fresh impetus.