Ben Broadbent, deputy governor of the Bank of England, speaks to Business Echo

ONE of the most interesting aspects of my job as deputy governor is the chance to get out of London and hear from a range of businesses and organisations about how the economy is doing up and down the country.

It happens to be one of the most important aspects too. We are the central bank for the whole of the United Kingdom so what happens in businesses and households in County Durham matters just as much as it does those in the City of London.

Fortunately we have a team of agents up and down the country, including here in the North East, whose job it is to be our eyes and ears in your communities every day.

And nothing beats hearing those insights first-hand, so I was delighted to return to the North East earlier this month for my latest regional visit.

My first port of call was the Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College in Darlington, where I talked to students about some of the current work undertaken by the Bank. It was a real pleasure to hear from such an engaged and enthusiastic group of students. They showed a real interest in the work of the Bank and possible careers in economics (perhaps even at the Bank of England!). These school visits are a real priority for the Bank. We’ve carried out more than 200 such visits so far this year.

In Darlington, we had a chance to talk about the new £50 note and the public process in choosing the character for the new polymer banknote, which we launched earlier this month. The students had plenty of ideas about possible candidates who have made an outstanding contribution to science. Hopefully they will also spread the word amongst their family and friends, who will participate in a piece of history.

I spent lunchtime with partner members of the North East England Chamber of Commerce at Seaham Hall where I talked about the Bank’s latest assessment of the outlook for the UK economy.

A couple of weeks earlier I had joined my fellow members of the Monetary Policy Committee in voting to keep interest rates on hold at 0.75 per cent.

A key judgment for the committee is that the economy is now operating at what economists call ‘full capacity’. That means it can only grow so fast without generating inflation above our 2 per cent target.

A key indicator of how much ‘spare capacity’ exists is the state of the labour market. And it was striking during my conversations at the lunch event how many North East companies told me that they were struggling to recruit the staff they need to grow.

That is inevitably beginning to put pressure on wage growth, which is something the MPC watches closely. The MPC’s judgment is that, if the economy performs as we expect, interest rates may have to rise further over the next 2-3 years. That said, there are also good reasons to think any necessary increases are likely to be more limited than in past episodes, and at a more gradual pace.

Of course, there is still a great deal of uncertainty about the outlook for the economy because of Brexit – another hot topic of conversation over the table at lunch. The nature and duration of the UK’s exit from the EU could have significant effects on the economy, and therefore on the path of interest rates. Whatever happens, the Bank will set interest rates in order to meet its remit: to ensure that inflation stays close to the 2% target and, subject to that target, to supporting jobs and economic activity Returning to my time in North East, after discussions over lunch I was delighted to pay a visit to Wessington Cryogenics, based in Houghton-le-Spring.

Director Gill Courtney MBE and finance manager Debbie Bell talked me through the history of the family-run firm and explained the broad range of uses of cryogenics in society, as well as some of the key challenges faced by the business.

A few miles down the road at Bowburn my final appointment of the day shed light on another important sector of the economy: the construction industry.

Esh Group is well-sighted across several aspects of the industry with its work in commercial and residential development and the insights of chief executive Andy Radcliffe were very useful for me in understanding the dynamics of the industry here in the North-East.

These insights will undoubtedly help me as my colleagues and I seek to understand how the economy is working in the North-East.

Alongside the intelligence gathered from business, looking ahead, members of the public in the region will also soon be able to offer feedback on their own experience of the economy and how the Bank’s policies are affecting them.

To that end, we have just announced that the North-East will be the first English region to establish a Bank of England Citizens’ Panel, a chance for people from all backgrounds across the region to tell us about issues such as jobs, pay, housing and the cost of living.

If you’d like to find out more about this initiative or you’d like to register to join the panel, you can do so here.

Another chance for you to get involved with the Bank and to help shape the future of the economy is through our Future Forum. This is an online platform we have created to allow members of the public to talk to us about the future of money.

We are keen to hear people’s views on a range of issues from the importance of cash to the role of cryptocurrencies. You can find out more on our website.

I left the North-East energised by the spirit of the people I met – from the classroom in Darlington to the boardrooms at Wessington and Esh.

It is this spirit and determination that I know will stand the North-East in good stead as it takes on some of the challenges ahead. And, of course, the Bank of England will do what it can to support the economy of the North-East through a period of great change.