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As British economy shrinks record 20%, Bank of England 'ready to act'

Monday 15 June 2020 11:03 CET | News

Bank of England has announced it will be ‘ready to take action’ to help the UK economy weather the coronavirus crisis, according to BBC.

The news came from the bank’s governor, who was speaking after figures showed that UK’s economy shrank by 20.4% in April 2020, as the country spent its first full month in lockdown. Furthermore, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said April's ‘historic’ fall affected virtually all areas of activity, as large parts of the economy remained shut to battle the pandemic.

The contraction is three times greater than the decline seen during the whole of the 2008 to 2009 economic downturn. But analysts said April 2020 was likely to be the worst month, as the government began easing the lockdown in May 2020.

News of the slump comes as almost nine million UK workers are having their wages paid by the government, while the number of people claiming unemployment benefit rocketed by 856,500 to 2.1 million in April 2020, BBC added.
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Keywords: Bank of England, coronavirus crisis, economy, finance, PLAN, UK, digital, crisis
Categories: Banking & Fintech
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Countries: United Kingdom
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Banking & Fintech