BoE's Bailey: Ready to take action to offset longer-term damage to UK economy

Commenting on the data that showed the UK economy contracted by 20.4% in April, "the GDP fall was dramatic number but not surprising, pretty much in line with our expectations,"  Bank of England (BoE) Governor Andrew Bailey said on Friday.

Additional takeaways

"We see some signs of recovery in most recent gauges of economy."

"We have to be ready to take action to offset longer-term damage to the UK economy."

"We are still very much in the midst of this."

Market reaction

The GBP/USD pair largely ignored these comments and was last seen posting small daily gains at 1.2602.