'Clarity' on British EU referendum needed: Bank of England

(LONDON) - Bank of England governor Mark Carney on Thursday said that "clarity" was needed about a planned referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union.

Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, who won a general election one week ago, has promised a referendum on Britain's EU membership by 2017.

Carney, questioned on BBC radio about the timing of a referendum, replied that it should be held "as soon as necessary".

"The government has made it clear it's a priority. I'm sure the government will act with appropriate speed in developing the negotiations and putting forward an appropriate question," he said.

"I think it's in the interests of everybody that there is clarity about the process and the question and the decision," he added.

Questioned if the looming referendum had resulted in uncertainty for businesses, Carney told BBC Radio 4: "We talk to a lot of bosses and there has been an awareness of some of this political uncertainty -- whether because of the election or because of the referendum.

"What they've been telling us, and we see it in the statistics, is they have not yet acted on that uncertainty -- or to put it another way, they are continuing to invest, they are continuing to hire."

Cameron's Conservatives triumphed in the May 7 election in a campaign that was rooted on his stewardship of the economy.

Britain's anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP) won almost four million votes -- a 12.6 percent share -- but that translated only into one parliamentary seat owing to Britain's first-past-the-post voting system, whereby votes for losing candidates count for nothing.

Carney added: "One of the big advantages this economy has is access to the European market.

"It's the largest economy in the world, it's our largest per destination, it's our largest investor in the United Kingdom."