BoE's Carney says will see if inflation expectations spike persists

LONDON (Reuters) - Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said on Thursday that he would have to see whether a recent spike in British inflation expectations would persist, adding that he did not want to raise interest rates before the economy gains strength. "We have to see on the specific survey what persistence there is, and fortunately it's a monthly survey so we'll look at that," Carney said after a survey earlier on Thursday showed inflation expectations at a two-year high. "We are not going to withdraw monetary stimulus until it's really gained that traction," he added, stressing that the Bank of England had not committed to a specific timetable for raising interest rates. "We're using that 7 percent unemployment threshold ... as the staging post for when we reassess monetary policy and begin to think about raising interest rates," he said. "If we make it there faster because the economy's growing more rapidly, because more jobs are being created, we will then make that assessment more rapidly." (Reporting by William Schomberg, writing by David Milliken, additional reporting by Joshua Franklin; editing by Ron Askew)