Will King be first to head to the exit?

LONDON: Bank of England Governor Mervyn King (left) may beat Ben S Bernanke to the emergency exit.

King, 61, will be in the vanguard of a global push to raise interest rates next year as he grapples with the highest inflation expectations in the Group of Seven industrialized nations, say economists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Deutsche Bank AG.

Higher rates may bolster the pound, which has slumped about 17 percent against the dollar in the past year, and keep a lid on inflation as Britain's economy rebounds from its deepest contraction in half a century. Those gains may come at the expense of exporters, such as building materials supplier SIG Plc, that have reported increased sales on the lower currency.