LONDON (Reuters) – British finance minister Jeremy Hunt has appointed three new members, including former Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane, to an advisory panel he set up in October to bolster the government’s reputation for economic competence.
The Economic Advisory Council was established by Hunt after the then-Prime Minister Liz Truss’s tax cut plans upset markets, and its first four members all had a financial markets background, and included two former BoE policymakers.
Tuesday’s appointments add Jon Symonds, the chair of pharmaceuticals company GSK, Anna Valero, an expert on productivity at the London School of Economics as well as Haldane, who was the BoE’s chief economist until 2021.
The council has had a low public profile since it was created, and serves as a consultative forum attended by Hunt and the finance ministry’s chief economic adviser.
“Economic growth is essential to our long-term prospects and in the face of global headwinds, this council plays a critical role in helping our economy meet these challenges,” Hunt said in a statement announcing the appointments.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak named economic growth as one of his five main policy goals for 2023.
Britain’s Office for Budget Responsibility forecast last month that the economy would shrink by 0.2% this year.
(Reporting by David Milliken and Sachin Ravikumar; editing by William James)
