Budget 2013: inflation target remains but MPC role to be reviewed

George Osborne is readying the Bank of England for Mark Carney's arrival by reassessing the role of the monetary policy committee.

Delivering his Budget, Osborne said the MPC would have to detail the trade-offs it had made in keeping inflation and growth on track.

While the inflation target will remain set at 2%, Osborne said low and stable inflation is not the key to securing the recovery, and the MPC had to be prepared to use unconventional methods and manage forward expectations for rates, like America's Federal Reserve did when it announced rates would likely remain on hold until 2015.

Carney, a former Goldman Sachs banker, has already been vocal on his plans for the Bank of England, hinting at doing away with inflation targeting as a possibility.

But while Osborne was keen to introduce more flexibility and accountability of the Bank's MPC to the Treasury, he said the target would stay fixed.