Lord King says UK well-prepared to deal with economic impact of coronavirus pandemic

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Former Bank of England boss Lord King says UK well-prepared to deal with economic impact of coronavirus pandemic after 10 years of austerity

By Daily Mail City & Finance Reporter

Published: | Updated:

The UK is well-prepared to deal with the economic impact of the pandemic after ten years of austerity, Lord (Mervyn) King said. 

The 72-year-old, who was governor of the Bank of England during the Financial Crisis, said Britain is in a good position to take on large amounts of debt. 

Well prepared: Lord King was governor of the Bank of England during the Financial Crisis

The Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced £330 billion of state-backed loans and pledged around £40 billion in grants, tax breaks and wages subsidies. 

Lord King said: ‘One of the benefits of being prudent in the last decade is that it is much easier to absorb a rise in the national debt. 

‘I don’t think we should worry today about the extent to which the national debt will rise, as long as we can get the economy back to function sooner rather than later.’ 

He added that ‘trial and error’ would be needed to emerge from the lockdown and said the Government should be ‘honest about the difficulties’ of opening the UK for business. 

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