Responding to the Bank of England’s announcement of measures to respond to Covid-19, Tej Parikh, Chief Economist at the Institute of Directors, said:

“The Bank’s swift action to shore up confidence and support lending will come as a significant relief to business leaders.

“A rate cut will help to support confidence in the markets, which has taken a severe knock over the past few days. For businesses, the wider package of lending support could be just as crucial in the medium term, to help firms ride out the anticipated difficulties.

“Directors will now be looking to the Chancellor to match this support with fiscal measures to lower costs and coax business investment in the months ahead.”