Bank signs up CBI adviser to join MPC

The Government has chosen Ian McCafferty, the chief economic adviser of the CBI, the employers' body, to replace Adam Posen on the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee.

Mr Posen's three-year term as an external member of the MPC finishes at the end of August, and Mr McCafferty, pictured, will take over the following month. He joined the CBI from BP, where he was head of macroeconomics.

Before that, he was chief international economist for NatWest Markets and Baring Securities. The Chancellor, George Osborne, said of Mr McCafferty: "His broad professional experience in business and industry, as well as his knowledge of the UK economy, will be extremely valuable to the committee in dealing with the challenges it faces now and in the future".