BOE chief economist hails UK's recovery from lockdown

London

THE Bank of England's (BOE) chief economist, Andy Haldane, hailed the recovery so far in Britain's economy after its coronavirus lockdown shock, striking a more upbeat tone than several of his colleagues recently.

Mr Haldane told City A.M. newspaper that the "recovery isn't being given enough credit" and the economy "has bounced back" in large part because consumers had shown themselves to be "incredibly resilient and adaptive and so too have businesses". Fellow interest-rate setters Michael Saunders, Deputy BOE Governor Dave Ramsden and Gertjan Vlieghe have recently expressed concern that Britain's economy might take longer to recover than the BOE's most recent forecasts.

Mr Saunders said last week he thought Britain's economy was likely to need more stimulus from the BOE.

Britain suffered its most severe economic contraction on record between March and June when it shrank by 20 per cent, a worse performance than other large industrialised nations. REUTERS