Mark Carney: The global outlook

Speech by Mr Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, at the Financial Times event in Frobisher Hall, the Barbican, London, 12 February 2019.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

It sometimes seems that everything in our world is connected.

It is a pleasure to meet in Frobisher Hall today. This hall is named after Sir Martin Frobisher, an English navigator who explored Canada's eastern arctic coast in the 16th century in search of new trade routes.

His connection to the Barbican is that most of him is buried in the St Giles-in-the-Fields churchyard. (His heart and entrails are in St Andrew's Church in Plymouth).

Martin Frobisher is perhaps more famous in Canada than in his native land. One of the great bays in the eastern arctic is named after him. The capital of Nunavut, Iqaluit, lies at the innermost end of Frobisher Bay.

Nine years ago this month Iqaluit hosted the G7 meeting that marked the start of the euro crisis. Events that still reverberate today including in the environs of the Barbican.

While the debate in the United Kingdom has been understandably dominated by Brexit, the world has been otherwise engaged.

When the Referendum was being held, the global economy was emerging from a long period of financial repair and lacklustre growth.