Andrew Sentence, the policy maker at the Bank of England said that officials should start raising interest rates from a record low "gradually" in order to prevent being compelled to tighten policy too drastically later.

The bank should increase them gradually and slowly if it is possible, Sentance said while delivering a speech in London late yesterday named "Ten Good Reasons to Tighten.

He further stated that if the interest- rate rises too long gets delayed for too long then this gradual approach may stop from being an option in the future.

Sentance wanted this month to increase the key interest rate by a0.5 point, which would have been the highest single increase after the bank gained independence in setting monetary policy in 1997.

His comments come with a split among officials widening over the risks to inflation and growth. Today data coming out from the statistics office will point out that what led the economy's fall in the fourth quarter, when it declined in the tune of an estimated half percent.

Sentance has given reasons for raising rates which include the continuing of U. K. inflation above two percent target set by the bank, world wide price pressures, the recovery in U. K. demand and signs that companies are passing on costs to customers. A report which came from the Confederation of British Industry yesterday showed that retail prices are going up at the fastest speed since 1991.

If they could be confident that global inflationary pressures would quickly go down then they might be more comfortable about not adjusting policy in response, Sentance further said. But they cannot be confident that the current drivers of global inflation will quickly subside. The upward pressure on global energy and commodity prices shows little sign of lessening.