Haldane Hopes Vaccine Will Restore Economy Confidence

Chief economist of the Bank of England (BoE), Andy Haldane, expressed on Monday hopes that news about a new successful COVID-19 vaccination would deliver a quick boost of confidence in the economy, Reuters reported.

“I’m not close enough to know how credible today’s Pfizer announcement is, but let’s hope it is. That would shift expectations I think very decisively among both people and among companies.”

“Whether it is next quarter or next year matters much less than the fact that you now have a way of preventing the prolongation of this stop-start cycling.”

“That is all the difference in the world, between having a viable business and not having a viable business, and making that investment and not making that investment, in psychological scarring that persists and deepens or the sense that things are going to get better at some point in the foreseeable future.”