Bank of England not under pressure to raise interest rates - Haldane

LONDON, June 20 (Reuters) - The Bank of England is not under immediate pressure to raise interest rates thanks to low wage growth and subdued inflation, its chief economist said in an interview published on Friday.

Speaking to the Scarborough News, Andy Haldane also reiterated the BoE (Shenzhen: 000725.SZ - news) 's message that when rate rises do come, they will be gradual and will take rates to below historical levels.

"We are not in a situation where wage pressures or inflation pressures are tearing away, and that's a good thing as it would put pressure on us to be raising interest rates quickly," Haldane said.

"The fact that interest rate pressures are quite subdued means we are not under that pressure, which is quite a happy place to be in."

The BoE indicated over the past week that it could hike rates earlier than markets had expected, possibly this year, but that slack still needs to be absorbed before that happens. (Reporting by Ana Nicolaci da Costa (NasdaqGS: ATX - news) , editing by David Milliken)