(Adds Haldane comments on inflation, background)
LONDON, May 7 (Reuters) - The Bank of England does not
expect to see a wave of bankruptcies among British firms when
the government ends its coronavirus emergency support for the
economy, BoE Chief Economist Andy Haldane said on Friday.
Many debts racked up recently by companies are spread over
long durations "which increases the chances of them being able
to be paid back and therefore bankruptcy is not picking up very
much from current relatively subdued levels," Haldane said.
"But ultimately there are risks around that and we'll need
to track them through," he said in a presentation to businesses,
a day after the BoE sharply raised its forecasts for British
economic growth in 2021.
Data published last week showed company insolvencies in
England and Wales fell to their lowest level in more than 30
years in early 2021 as the government's support helped
businesses to ward off bankruptcy.
Haldane also said there were "significant risks" that
inflation could come in either above or below the BoE's latest
forecasts. These predict inflation will be close to its 2%
target in two to three years' time, after an initial overshoot
as the economy recovers from the pandemic..
"Currently we see those (risks) as being broadly symmetric,
but they're big on both sides and there's no escaping that given
where we are economically right now," Haldane said.
(Reporting by David Milliken
Writing by William Schomberg)