LONDON – The Bank of England warned Thursday that the scale and duration of the economic shock stemming from the coronavirus pandemic will be “large and sharp but should ultimately prove temporary.” The rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee said in a statement that the depth of the downturn will largely depend on whether job losses and business failures can be "minimized." Early surveys of the economy in Britain are pointing to a virus-related recession even deeper than the one that followed the global financial crisis a decade ago.
Many economists think that the economy could shrink by more than 10% just in the first half of this year, an almost unprecedented decline in developed economies.