M&S boss Archie Norman has labelled the Bank of England’s interest rate rises as “totally ineffective,” as he said most price changes had been out of its control.
The chairman argued that the most intense UK cycle of interest rate rises since the late 1980s “didn’t actually reduce inflation very much”.
He insisted that falling inflation rates had little to do with the Bank of England’s measures and were related more to wider economic trends.
Norman argued that the central bank only had a “marginal” impact on lowering inflation from its 11.1% peak in October 2022 to 4% in January.
Since December 2021, the benchmark rate has risen 14 times, and has remained at 5.25% since last autumn.
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Speaking to Bloomberg, the businessman said: “What we’ve proved in the last three years is that monetary policy is totally ineffective. There’s a marginal effect but inflation was driven by global macro prices. It had no bearing on the price of gas. It had no real bearing on the price of food.
“We probably sometimes listen a bit too much to central bankers.”
In January, Norman insisted that M&S needed to become a “global brand” in order to survive for another century.
Norman told The Times that the clothing and food retailer was eyeing further international expansion following signs its turnaround strategy was paying off.
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