LONDON (Reuters) - Bank of England Chief Economist Huw Pill said on Thursday that members of the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee were more confident that they would soon be able to cut interest rates, although they needed more evidence.
"I think we're growing more and more confident that we can begin to reduce the restriction that monetary policy is putting in the economy and start to cut interest rates," Pill said at a question and answer session organised by the central bank.
"We're not quite there yet, and we need more evidence," he added.
Earlier on Thursday the BoE held interest rates at a 16-year high of 5.25%, but paved the way for a rate cut as early as June as inflation was moving in the right direction.
Responding to a question about the outlook for interest rates, Pill said the BoE would be thinking about cutting rates over the coming months.
"In the absence of big new disturbances in the economy, we're going to be thinking about moving interest rates over the next few meetings," he said.
(Reporting by Suban Abdulla; editing by David Milliken)
