No second term for BoE's Lomax

London: Bank of England Deputy Governor Rachel Lomax will quit her post at the central bank when her term ends this summer, the Treasury said on Sunday, opening up a vacancy at a crucial time for the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

Lomax's five-year term ends on June 30, 2008. The Treasury said a replacement would be announced in due course.

The new appointment will come at a critical time for the central bank and the economy.

Inflation is soaring and growth is slowing sharply and the nine-member MPC has been split over the best way to handle what Governor Mervyn King has called the most challenging conditions in at least a decade.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, meanwhile, has said he hopes interest rates can come down but that the decision is one for the central bank.

The Treasury said that while a search for Lomax's successor had begun, there was no short-list yet.

Lomax, a former top civil servant, was the first woman to hold the deputy governor's role at the BoE ever. Kate Barker is the only other female on the rate-setting committee.