The Bank of England has warned that the coronavirus pandemic will push
the UK economy towards its deepest recession on record.To get more news
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Financika, you can visit wikifx news official website.
It said the economy was on course to shrink 14% this year, based on the lockdown being relaxed in June.
Scenarios
drawn up by the Bank to illustrate the economic impact said Covid-19
was “dramatically reducing jobs and incomes in the UK”.
Policymakers voted unanimously to keep interest rates at a record low of 0.1%.
However,
the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) that sets interest rates was split
on whether to inject more stimulus into the economy.
Two of its nine members voted to increase the latest round of quantitative easing by £100bn to £300bn.
The Bank's analysis was based on social distancing measures being gradually phased out between June and September.
The
Bank's scenario showed the UK economy plunging into its first recession
in more than a decade. The economy shrinks by 3% in the first quarter
of 2020, followed by an unprecedented 25% decline in the three months to
June.
This would push the UK into a technical recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of economic decline.
Rebound
For
the year as a whole, the economy is expected to contract by 14%. This
would be the biggest annual decline on record, according to Office for
National Statistics (ONS) data dating back to 1949.
It would also
be the sharpest annual contraction since 1706, according to
reconstructed Bank of England data stretching back to the 18th Century.
While
UK growth is expected to rebound in 2021 to 15%, the size of the
economy is not expected to get back to its pre-virus peak until the
middle of next year.
Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of
England, said he expected any permanent damage from the pandemic to be
“relatively small”. The economy was likely to recover “much more rapidly
than the pull back from the global financial crisis,” he said.
Mr
Bailey also praised the action by the government to support workers and
businesses through wage subsidies, loans and grants. He said the success
of these schemes meant there would be “limited scarring to the
economy”.
James Smith, research director at the Resolution
Foundation, said the hit to the economy this year was equivalent to
£9,000 for every family in Britain.
He said: “Faced with this huge
economic hit, both the Bank and the Government have made the right call
in taking bold action to protect firms and families as much as
possible.”
The UK government is expected to start easing lockdown restrictions next week.
The
Bank stressed that the outlook for the economy was “unusually
uncertain” at present and would depend on how households and businesses
responded to the pandemic.
It assumes job losses and shrinking pay
packets will continue to weigh on the recovery, with British families
remaining cautious about shopping and socialising for at least another
year.
The Wall