LONDON: Bank of England Governor Mark Carney is unlikely to take up the option of a three-year extension to his term at the central bank, and may announce his decision as soon as Thursday, a British newspaper reported on Saturday.



Carney has said publicly that he will decide before the end of the year whether to stay beyond the five-year term he committed to when he joined the BoE in July 2013, and is due to hold a quarterly news conference on Thursday.



"Senior City figures who know the governor said they believed it was more likely than not that he would choose to return to Canada in 2018, adding that his family's feelings were a concern," the Times newspaper reported.



"Suggestions he could leave before 2018 were firmly rejected," it added, saying an announcement could come at Thursday's news conference or a future appearance before the committee of lawmakers which monitors the central bank.



The BoE declined to comment on the article, and referred to Carney's previous public statements on the topic.



On Tuesday Carney said his decision whether to stay would be based on personal rather than political considerations, and that he would need to find some time to make up his mind.



Before he took up the role of BoE governor, Carney said he only planned to serve five years of the eight-year term, to reduce his family's time away from their native Canada, but at the end of last year he said he was considering staying longer.



However, in the run-up to Britain's vote in June to leave the European Union, supporters of Brexit criticised Carney for adopting too negative a stance, and new Prime Minister Theresa May said this month that the BoE's loose monetary policy had "bad side effects". - Reuters

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