BoE Haldane: Roughly half of the pandemic slump recovered

BoE Chief Economic Andy Haldane said there was a bounce back in the economy, and it has been a “V”. “Roughly half of the roughly 25% fall in activity during March and April has been clawed back over the period since. Nevertheless, “that of course doesn’t tell us about where we might go next”. Looking ahead, he added, “we could do more QE, could purchase other assets” and “we are reviewing negative rates”.

As for the challenges ahead in the next three years, Haldane said “overwhelmingly, the main challenge….. is likely to continue to be assessing the on-going effects of the Covid crisis on output, jobs and inflation and to set monetary policy in the light of this”.