WASHINGTON, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Weak economic data released on Thursday that showed the British economy slipped into recession last year was no surprise, but the outlook for 2024 is brighter, Bank of England policymaker Catherine Mann said.
"I always had viewed the second half of the year to be a soft patch. And so in my view, the data are just confirming something that I already knew," Mann told reporters at a conference hosted by the United States' National Association for Business Economics.
"Going forward I focused on the forward-looking PMIs and revisions thereof, as well as forward-looking data that comes from the (BoE's) Decision Maker Panel. And those are all looking good," she added.
Mann was one of two members of the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee to vote this month for a further increase in interest rates due to ongoing inflation risks, although she said last week that her decision to do so was "not easy". (Reporting by Howard Schneider, writing by David Milliken, editing by Andrew Heavens)
