Bailey: We Will Return to Pre-Epidemic Level by the End of the Year

Andrew Bailey, Chariman of the Bank of England (BoE), said, "We will return to the pre-epidemic level by the end of the year." regarding to the UK economy.

Andrew Bailey, Chairman of the Bank of England (BoE), made some evaluations to the British broadcaster BBC about the economy of the country. Suggesting that the British economy will return to where it was at the end of 2019, Bailey emphasized that the BoE has the tools necessary to defend the economy. Bailey said, "We haven't run out of tools, we still have firepower." Saying that negative interest rates can also be considered within this scope, Bailey said, "This is not an opinion about whether we will use them or not." Bailey announced that inflation in the UK is expected to start rising towards the BoE's target of 2 percent in the next 2 or 3 months. Bailey stressed that the BoE Monetary Policy Board needs to see more evidence that inflation trends are sustainable before taking action, adding that there are still great uncertainties regarding the economic impacts of the pandemic. BoE Chairman Bailey noted that there is no evidence to justify the statements that "inflation may rise to 4-5 percent levels as the economic recovery continues in Britain in the future."     This article has the contributions of Bloomberg HT and BBC.