UK opens fiscal and monetary taps to combat Covid-19

THE UK government's Budget on Wednesday was perhaps the most important, politically and economically, since the 2008-09 financial crisis. Yet, while it was more expansionary than anticipated, and coordinated with a Bank of England half-a-percentage point interest rate cut, it is still unclear whether it will be enough to get the country through its novel coronavirus challenges.

With confirmed UK cases now around 500, and jumping at the fastest daily rate on Tuesday since the outbreak began, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that the virus is now likely to spread significantly.

The first part of Chancellor Rishi Sunak's Budget was therefore aimed squarely at combating the Covid-19 challenge and sustaining public and business confidence amid what he said would be "significant disruption" to the economy. He announced some £30 billion (S$53.7 billion) of "timely, targeted, and temporary" measures, including pledges to do whatever it takes to ensure the Health Service can get through the gathering storm, with the World Health Organization having upgraded the outbreak to a pandemic on Wednesday.