The BoE's most recent forecast for inflation to fall "certainly doesn't rule out a policy easing at some point this year," Broadbent said in an annual report to parliament's Treasury Committee published on Tuesday.

"In my view that is the more likely direction in which Bank Rate is likely to move," he said. "But even if that proves to be the case, the timing of any adjustment can only depend on the actual evolution of the economic data."

(Writing by William Schomberg; editing by David Milliken and Andy Bruce)