The pandemic has turned the working lives of millions of people in Britain upside-down, with job losses and redundancies rife and livelihoods and income streams wiped out in a matter of months.
Last week, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey warned that unemployment figures are likely to be worse than documented, with around 2.2million people already out of work.
Losing a job and having to pick yourself up and start again can be tough, but there is a string of sectors where demand for new workers is growing, giving hope to those who need to find a new career path through no fault of their own.
The Pound-to-New Zealand Dollar exchange rate (GBP/NZD) has become increasingly near-term bullish and could be on course to reach an initial target at 1.9189.
Today Michael Brown, currency expert at international payments and foreign exchange firm Caxton FX, spoke to Express.co.uk about the latest exchange rate figures this morning.
Brown said: Sterling, after notching fresh six week highs, pulled back a touch against the common currency yesterday, with the market appearing rather rudderless on the whole once more. It should be a rather quiet end to the week for the cross, with consolidation the likely theme.”
There has been a lack of impetus in the market for growth, Mr Brown explained yesterday.
Pound increases against the euro in exchange rate
At the time he told Express.co.uk: Sterling notched fresh six week highs against the common currency yesterday morning, though couldn’t extend gains amid a lack of fresh impetus to give the bulls control.
POLL-UK economy to take at least two years to return to pre-COVID-19 level Reuters 1/15/2021 reuters://realtime/verb=Open/url=cpurl://apps.cp./Apps/cb-polls?RIC=GBBASEQP BoE poll data Reuters poll graphic on United Kingdom economic growth, inflation and interest rate outlook: https://tmsnrt.rs/3bEz6tW
By Jonathan Cable
LONDON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - It will take more than two years for Britain s economy to recover to its pre-COVID-19 level, a Reuters poll found, but the Bank of England was still expected to keep rates steady until at least 2024 and to avoid negative borrowing costs.
The British government has been ramping up its coronavirus vaccination programme in one of the hardest hit countries by the pandemic but another national lockdown, which is hurting the dominant service industry the most, means the economy will shrink again this quarter.