Placeholder Image

字幕列表 影片播放

  • 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,980 The spread of the coronavirus, Covid-19,

  • has been a major shock to the growth

  • prospects of the global economy and the euro area economy.

  • The storm is upon us.

  • The Covid-19 disease that has devastated China, Italy,

  • and Iran is about to hit many other countries

  • with full force.

  • But the economic damage is already here.

  • We are starting now to see the data of just how

  • bad the economic damage is.

  • And it doesn't come just from the disease,

  • but from the measures governments are forced

  • to take to stop its spread.

  • They have taken draconian measures in one country

  • after another in order to stop people

  • from being physically near each other

  • and from socially interacting.

  • But this means that swaths of the economy

  • are being shut down.

  • And we are looking now at a downturn at least as

  • big as in the global financial crisis,

  • and very probably quite a lot larger and deeper.

  • In response to this, policymakers have taken

  • unprecedented actions in order to try to minimise an economic

  • hit that we know will be big.

  • They have used both monetary policy and fiscal policy

  • in unprecedented ways.

  • Monetary policy is what central banks do.

  • Fiscal policy is what governments

  • do with their budgets.

  • Yes, it will be significant.

  • But that's why we're doing everything we're doing.

  • We're doing whatever it takes to get through it.

  • And things will be better in time.

  • I think we're going to do something that gets money

  • to them as quickly as possible.

  • That may not be an accurate way of doing it,

  • because obviously some people shouldn't

  • be getting cheques for $1,000.

  • And we'll have a pretty good idea

  • by the end of the day what we're going to do be doing.

  • The world's central banks have done three types of things

  • in order to reduce the economic consequences.

  • 00:01:51,610 --> 00:01:54,150 The first is to reduce interest rates in order

  • to make things easier for borrowers

  • to continue to borrow and to have a little bit

  • more extra cash.

  • Especially the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve,

  • the central banks of the US and the UK,

  • have put in place dramatic and very fast interest rate cuts.

  • 00:02:13,670 --> 00:02:15,950 The second thing that central banks have done

  • is to intervene in markets, put a lot of money

  • into financial markets in order to make sure

  • that they function properly, and in order

  • to make it easier for banks to continue

  • to lend into the real economy.

  • They have also reduced, taken away some regulations,

  • and lightened some rules, again, to make

  • it easier for banks to lend.

  • 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:39,610 And the third thing they have done

  • is that they have gone on a buying spree.

  • Central banks have put a lot of money on the line

  • in order to buy assets such as government

  • bonds, corporate bonds, again in order

  • to make it easier for people to borrow and finance themselves

  • through this crisis.

  • And that means that central bank balance sheets that

  • were already big after the last crisis

  • are now set to become even quite a lot bigger.

  • What about the fiscal policymakers, governments?

  • They are also using their budgets vigorously

  • and in unprecedented quantities in order to cushion the shock.

  • 00:03:31,180 --> 00:03:32,860 Most governments certainly in Europe

  • are committing to subsidising the wages of people

  • who are being laid off.

  • The intention is to prevent what is hopefully

  • a short shock from the disease from destroying

  • jobs and destroying companies to such an extent

  • that when governments can lift the restrictions on movement

  • and interaction, there are no jobs or shops or companies

  • to go back to.

  • This will cost a lot of money.

  • So governments are looking at increasing their debt

  • significantly.

  • And in some cases countries that already

  • have very large public debt burdens after the last crisis,

  • people are somewhat worried that they will

  • find it difficult to borrow.

  • But that's when we go back to the central bank action again.

  • When central banks buy government bonds in what is

  • called QE - quantitative easing - or asset purchase programmes,

  • they ensure that the borrowing costs for governments are low.

  • So the intention, at least, is to allow governments

  • to borrow as much as they need to do whatever it takes

  • to protect the economy as much as we can

  • from the deepest shock in generations.

00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,980 The spread of the coronavirus, Covid-19,

字幕與單字

單字即點即查 點擊單字可以查詢單字解釋