LONDON, May 26 (Reuters) - It is too early to spot green shoots of economic recovery, Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member Andrew Sentance said in remarks reported by Channel 4 News.
"We have to get to a point where the economy stops contracting before it begins to recover," he said, according to an interview posted on the broadcaster's website.
"Therefore, I think the first thing to look for is a slowdown in the rate of decline, an indication that things are bottoming out," he said in the comments, which were first broadcast on Friday.
Sentance said the worst of the collapse in output may be over, but there were threats to the strength of any recovery.
"I would be hopeful that we will see a recovery starting later this year or in 2010," he said during a visit to Merseyside. "The evidence I've seen on this visit is, I think, still consistent with that." (Reporting by David Milliken; editing by David Stamp)