FILE PHOTO: Chief Economist and Executive Director for Monetary Analysis and Research at the Bank of England Huw Pill poses for a portrait following an interview with Reuters at the Bank of England in London, Britain, February 12, 2025. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett/File Photo

(Reuters) -Bank of England Chief Economist Huw Pill said on Tuesday that he voted last week against a slowdown in the pace of the central bank's reduction of its government bond stockpile in part because the BoE has other tools to address problems in financial markets.

"I was essentially a dissenter in summary because I put a higher weight on the need to get out of the QE portfolio a little bit quicker, and I have greater faith that market functioning is perhaps a bit more strong than others," Pill said in a discussion organised by the Pictet Research Institute.

"I do think we have other tools in order to address concerns about market functioning."

Pill last week voted with the majority of BoE policymakers to keep interest rates at 4% but he cast a lone vote against a decision to slow the pace of quantitative tightening.

(Reporting by William Schomberg; Editing by Kate Holton)