BoE's Carney says UK on track for rate hike in relatively near term

LONDON (Reuters) - Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said on Friday that Britain's economy was on track for the central bank to start raising record-low interest rates in the "relatively near term."

"What we have said, that if the economy continues on the track that it's been on, and all indications are that it is, in the relatively near term we can expect that interest rates would increase somewhat," Carney told BBC radio.

The British central bank surprised markets just over two weeks ago when it said most of its policymakers thought the first rate hike in more than a decade would be needed "in the coming months," if inflation pressure continued to build.

Carney has previously said he was one of those policymakers.

Most economists now expect the BoE to raise Bank Rate to 0.50 percent from 0.25 percent on Nov. 2, at the end of its next policy meeting.

(Reporting by William Schomberg and Estelle Shirbon, editing by Kate Holton)