Bank Rate held at 0.1% with inflation and GDP forecasts slashed

Neil,

U simplify it so people like me can understand it.
You should write the Plain English Guide for the economists.

Keep overpaying u Landlords in these low interest rate times. DON'T waste the money.
U will be thankful in years to come if u overpay now.
We may never get times like this again.
If u don't overpay, use the money to invest so u have at least used the money to bring in more income which should cover future interest rate rises.

I read it. And this is what I wonder.

There is nothing really that new about Covid 19 or SARSCov2, whatever you want to call it. It's just a RNA virus doing what RNA viruses have always done. Viruses that are made of DNA are, like DNA, very stable. They don't chop and change much. But RNA viruses, like the influenza virus are like RNA...flexible, adaptive, and they always have been. Because they are adaptable they can jump species and that is why they tend to originate from certain parts of the world at certain times in history. These tend to be the places where large numbers of people are gathered together alongside multiple species.

So governments around the world are doing what they are doing to their economies. You can't really compare New Zealand to the UK because, if you've ever been there, you'll know that not only is their population density low, the density of their 'affordable' accommodation is also low. Their risk of the spread of respiratory viruses is not the same as in apartments in Northern Italy or Barcelona, or on the London Underground.

I was watching the Swedish epidemiologist who is taking charge of things in Sweden recently. I was moved not just by his grasp of the science, but also by his courage. He's likely to be villified. But the truth is that nobody is going to know whether he's right or not until after next winter...after we've seen whether there's another outbreak when we go into the next major period of risk for respiratory viruses.

But given that economists take the long term view here's the big question. If governments around the world trash their economies and create a recession that affects generations of people then much as the UK's war debt was around for generations, the debt created by the response of these governments (as opposed to the virus) will also be around for generations. And given that the conditions that gave rise to the emergence of Covid19 are still there, and that RNA viruses will continue to do what they've always done, another RNA virus is going to emerge and possibly spread before anybody has undone the economic damage caused by the last one.

Reply to the comment left by Mick Roberts at 07/05/2020 - 13:13
Keep overpaying u Landlords in these low interest rate times. DON'T waste the money.
U will be thankful in years to come if u overpay now.

Sod that Mick.
Instead of saving your pennies for Nottingham Council's next landlord licencing renewal tax, improving properties, providing decent homes etc.
-Go out and buy yourself a quality hot tub instead. I reckon you've earnt it;

https://www.hotspringworld.co.uk/showrooms/nottingham/