Silvana Tenreyro appointed to Monetary Policy Committee

A new external member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has been appointed.

Professor Silvana Tenreyro will start a three-year term on the MPC - the committee that sets UK interest rates - on 7 July.

She will replace Kristin Forbes, who ends her term of office on 30 June.

Ms Forbes was one of three policymakers on the MPC who voted last week to raise interest rates from the record low of 0.25%.

In a statement, Bank of England governor Mark Carney said: "I am delighted to welcome Silvana Tenreyro to the Monetary Policy Committee and am very much looking forward to working with her.

"Her extensive and varied academic experience - on the monetary transmission mechanism, the dynamics of productivity, trade, housing issues as well as wage dynamics, to name just a few - will be invaluable to the committee as it seeks to promote the good of the people of the United Kingdom through maintaining monetary stability."

Prof Tenreyro's appointment ensures the Bank of England has at least one woman in a senior position.

As well as Kristin Forbes' planned departure, MPC member Charlotte Hogg resigned after it emerged she had broken the Bank's rules on disclosure of personal links within the industry.

Prof Tenreyro has most recently been a professor of economics at the London School of Economics (LSE).

She already has links to the Bank of England, at which she is an academic visitor.

Before that, her positions included a spell at the US Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and a stint on the Mauritian MPC.