UK growth supports case for higher interest rates, BoE's Pill tells WSJ

LONDON, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Bank of England Chief Economist Huw Pill told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday that stronger-than-expected British economic growth figures reinforced the case for higher borrowing costs to bring inflation back to target.

Pill, who was outvoted in a 6-3 decision by the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee to keep interest rates unchanged at the MPC's July meeting, said data showing the British economy grew 0.4% in the second quarter suggested the country was not heading into a sharp downturn.

"This goes in the direction of reassuring me that we're not entering a sharp downturn," Pill said in an interview with the Journal.

"We’ve had 59 months of data in my time as a member of the MPC, of which three months have been at or below target," he added. "It matters to me."

(Reporting by Sam TabahritiEditing by William Schomberg)