Bank of England's Carney sets out forward guidance

Bank of England governor Mark Carney held his first news conference on Wednesday, giving his views on the merits of forward guidance alongside the bank's quarterly economic forecasts.

Below are the highlights of the news conference:

"A renewed recovery is now underway in the United Kingdom and it appears to be broadening. While that is certainly welcome, the legacy of the financial crisis means that the recovery remains weak by historical standards and there is still a significant margin of spare capacity in the economy, this is most clearly evident in the high rate of unemployment.

"It is now more important than ever for the monetary policy committee to be clear and transparent about how it will set monetary policy in order to avoid an unwarranted tightening in interest rate expectations as the recovery gathers strength.

"That's why today the MPC is announcing explicit state contingent forward guidance, our aim is to help secure the recovery while ensuring that risk to price stability and financial stability are well contained."