Bank of England (BoE) Governor Andrew Bailey is delivering his remarks on the policy outlook and responding to questions from the press following the bank's decision to hike the policy rate by 25 basis points to 4.5% in May.

Key takeaways

"Outlook for growth, unemployment has improved."

"Inflation remains too high, we have to stay the course."

"There is greater resilience in the economy than we had expected."

"Acutely aware of how difficult rise in food prices is for people."

"We do see signs that food price inflation will start to slow."

"Good reasons to think CPI will fall sharply from April."

"Inflation is on course to halve by the end of this year but our focus is on returning inflation to 2%."

"As inflation falls, second round effects unlikely to go away as quickly as they appeared."

"News on indicators of inflation persistence has been mixed."

About Andrew Bailey (via bankofengland.co.uk)

"Andrew Bailey previously held the role of Deputy Governor, Prudential Regulation and CEO of the PRA from 1 April 2013. While retaining his role as Executive Director of the Bank, Andrew joined the Financial Services Authority in April 2011 as Deputy Head of the Prudential Business Unit and Director of UK Banks and Building Societies. In July 2012, Andrew became Managing Director of the Prudential Business Unit, with responsibility for the prudential supervision of banks, investment banks and insurance companies. Andrew was appointed as a voting member of the interim Financial Policy Committee at its June 2012 meeting."