Professor Philip Lane:

Again, it is really important that everybody does not overly focus on the forecast. It is what we think is most likely to happen. It is still the case that possible risks in Brazil, China and so on are emerging. Whether they will really shake up the world economy is open to question. Again, the philosophy of a central bank has to be to protect the financial system by stating that if bad events happen, it will try to keep the system stable. Equally, in terms of manifestos for governments and so on, it is a good question to ask as to what would happen if one is wrong? If it turns out the world moves back into recession - it is not the main forecast, but one cannot rule it out - what would the strategies be in that case? One needs to have a risk plan also.