ECONOMIC BACKGROUND – Provided by Link Asset Services 11/11/20

·         UK. The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee kept Bank Rate unchanged on 5th November. However, it revised its economic forecasts to take account of a second national lockdown from 5th November to 2nd December which is obviously going to put back economic recovery and do further damage to the economy.  It therefore decided to do a further tranche of quantitative easing (QE) of £150bn, to start in January when the current programme of £300bn of QE announced in March to June, runs out. 

·         Its forecasts appear to be rather optimistic in terms of three areas:

o   The economy would recover to reach its pre-pandemic level in Q1 2022

o   The Bank also expects there to be excess demand in the economy by Q4 2022.

o   CPI inflation is therefore projected to be a bit above its 2% target by the start of 2023 and the “inflation risks were judged to be balanced”.

·         Significantly, there was no mention of negative interest rates in the minutes or Monetary Policy Report, suggesting that the MPC remains some way from being persuaded of the case for such a policy, at least for the next 6 -12 months. However, rather than saying that it “stands ready to adjust monetary policy”, the MPC this time said that it will take “whatever additional action was necessary to achieve its remit”. The latter seems stronger and wider and may indicate the Bank’s willingness to embrace new tools.

·         One key addition to the Bank’s forward guidance in August was a new phrase in the policy statement, namely that “it does not intend to tighten monetary policy until there is clear evidence that significant progress is being made in eliminating spare capacity and achieving the 2% target sustainably”. That seems designed to say, in effect, that even if inflation rises to 2% in a couple of years’ time, do not expect any action from the MPC to raise Bank Rate – until they can clearly see that level of inflation is going to be persistently above target if it takes no action to raise Bank Rate.  Our Bank Rate forecast currently shows no increase through to quarter 1 2024 but there could well be no increase during the next five years due to the slow rate of recovery of the economy and the need for the Government to see the burden of the elevated debt to GDP ratio falling significantly. Inflation is unlikely to pose a threat requiring increases in Bank Rate during this period as there is likely to be spare capacity in the economy for a considerable time.  It is expected to briefly peak at around 2% towards the end of 2021, but this is a temporary short lived factor and so not a concern.

·         However, the minutes did contain several references to downside risks. The MPC reiterated that the “recovery would take time, and the risks around the GDP projection were judged to be skewed to the downside”. It also said “the risk of a more persistent period of elevated unemployment remained material”. Downside risks could well include severe restrictions remaining in place in some form during the rest of December and most of January too. That could involve some or all of the lockdown being extended beyond 2nd December, a temporary relaxation of restrictions over Christmas, a resumption of the lockdown in January and lots of regions being subject to Tier 3 restrictions when the lockdown ends. Hopefully, restrictions should progressively ease during the spring.  It is only to be expected that some businesses that have barely survived the first lockdown, will fail to survive the second lockdown, especially those businesses that depend on a surge of business in the run up to Christmas each year.  This will mean that there will be some level of further permanent loss of economic activity, although the extension of the furlough scheme to the end of 31st March will limit the degree of damage done.

 

·         As for upside risks, we have been waiting expectantly for news that various COVID19 vaccines would be cleared as being safe and effective for administering to the general public. The Pfizer announcement on 9th November was very encouraging as its 90% effectiveness was much higher than the 50-60% rate of effectiveness of flu vaccines which might otherwise have been expected.  However, their phase three trials are still only two-thirds complete. More data needs to be collected to make sure there are no serious side effects. We don’t know exactly how long immunity will last or whether it is effective across all age groups. The Pfizer vaccine specifically also has demanding cold storage requirements of minus 70C that might make it more difficult to roll out. However, the logistics of production and deployment can surely be worked out over the next few months.

 

·         What these vaccine results would mean is that life could largely return to normal during 2021, with activity in the still-depressed sectors like restaurants, travel and hotels returning to their pre-pandemic levels, which would help to bring the unemployment rate down. With the household saving rate currently being exceptionally high, there is plenty of pent-up demand and purchasing power stored up for these services. A large-scale roll-out of vaccines might take into late 2021 to fully complete; but if the vaccine really is that effective, then there is a possibility that restrictions could begin to be eased once vulnerable people and front-line workers had been vaccinated. At that point, there would be less reason to fear that hospitals could become overwhelmed any more.  Effective vaccines would radically improve the economic outlook once they have been widely administered; it may allow GDP to rise to its pre-virus level a year earlier than otherwise and mean that the unemployment rate peaks at 7% next year instead of 9%. But while this would reduce the need for more QE and/or negative interest rates, increases in Bank Rate would still remain some years away. However, until there is clarity on these issues around the Pfizer vaccine, it would be premature to change the overall economic commentary and forecasting in this report. It also raises a potential question as to whether the relatively optimistic outlook of the Monetary Policy Report was swayed by making positive assumptions around effective vaccines being available soon. It should also be borne in mind that as effective vaccines will take time to administer, economic news could well get worse before it starts getting better.

·         Public borrowing is now likely to increase by about £30bn to around £420bn (23% of GDP) as a result of the new lockdown.  In normal times, such an increase in total gilt issuance would lead to a rise in gilt yields, and so PWLB rates. However, the QE done by the Bank of England has depressed gilt yields to historic low levels, (as has similarly occurred with QE and debt issued in the US, the EU and Japan). This means that new UK debt being issued, and this is being done across the whole yield curve in all maturities, is locking in those historic low levels through until maturity.  In addition, the UK has one of the longest average maturities for its entire debt portfolio, of any country in the world.  Overall, this means that the total interest bill paid by the Government is manageable. It is also quite possible that the Bank of England will do more QE in 2021 to support the economy, although negative interest rates could also be a usable tool in the tool box later on in 2021.

·         Overall, the pace of recovery was not expected to be in the form of a rapid V shape, but a more elongated and prolonged one. The initial recovery was sharp but after a disappointing increase in GDP of only 2.1% in August, this left the economy still 9.2% smaller than in February; this suggested that the economic recovery was running out of steam after recovering 64% of its total fall during the crisis. The last three months of 2020 were originally expected to show zero growth due to the impact of widespread local lockdowns, consumers probably remaining cautious in spending, and uncertainty over the outcome of the UK/EU trade negotiations concluding at the end of the year also being a headwind. However, the new national lockdown for one month is now expected to depress GDP by 8% in November while the rebound in December is likely to be muted and vulnerable to the previously mentioned downside risks. Unemployment is also now expected to increase from 4.5% in August to a peak of 9% around the middle of 2021. Due to the number of adverse factors that have built up during the autumn, there is wide expectation that the Bank of England could resort to expanding quantitative easing by a further £100bn during 2021 to sustain momentum in the economy.  Even so, it is now expected that the second national lockdown will push back recovery of GDP to pre pandemic levels by six months and into sometime during 2023.  However, the graph below shows what Capital Economics forecast could happen if a successful vaccine was widely administered in the UK in the first half of 2021; this would cause a much quicker recovery.

 

Level of real GDP   (Q4 2019 = 100)

 

 

·         There will be some painful longer term adjustments as e.g. office space and travel by planes, trains and buses may not recover to their previous level of use for several years, or possibly ever, even if vaccines are fully successful in overcoming the current virus. There is also likely to be a reversal of globalisation as this crisis has exposed how vulnerable long-distance supply chains are. On the other hand, digital services are one area that has already seen huge growth.

 

·         The Financial Policy Committee (FPC) report on 6th August revised down their expected credit losses for the banking sector to “somewhat less than £80bn”. It stated that in its assessment “banks have buffers of capital more than sufficient to absorb the losses that are likely to arise under the MPC’s central projection”. The FPC stated that for real stress in the sector, the economic output would need to be twice as bad as the MPC’s projection, with unemployment rising to above 15%.

 

 

EU. The economy was recovering well towards the end of Q2 and into Q3 after a sharp drop in GDP caused by the virus, (e.g. France 18.9%, Italy 17.6%).  However, growth is likely to stagnate during Q4, and Q1 of 2021, as a second wave of the virus has affected many countries, and is likely to hit hardest those countries more dependent on tourism. The €750bn fiscal support package eventually agreed by the EU after prolonged disagreement between various countries, is unlikely to provide significant support, and quickly enough, to make an appreciable difference in the worst affected countries. With inflation expected to be unlikely to get much above 1% over the next two years, the ECB has been struggling to get inflation up to its 2% target. It is currently unlikely that it will cut its central rate even further into negative territory from -0.5%, although the ECB has stated that it retains this as a possible tool to use. It is therefore expected that it will have to provide more monetary policy support through more quantitative easing purchases of bonds in the absence of sufficient fiscal support from governments. The current PEPP scheme of €1,350bn of QE which started in March 2020 is providing protection to the sovereign bond yields of weaker countries like Italy.  There is therefore unlikely to be a euro crisis while the ECB is able to maintain this level of support. However, the PEPP scheme is regarded as being a temporary measure during this crisis so it may need to be increased once the first PEPP runs out during early 2021 - unless vaccines step in quickly enough to head off the need for more action by the ECB. It could also decide to focus on using the Asset Purchase Programme to make more monthly purchases, rather than the PEPP scheme, and it does have other monetary policy options.

 

 

 

Summary

 

Central banks are, therefore, likely to come under more pressure to support growth by looser monetary policy measures and this is likely to result in more quantitative easing and keeping rates very low for longer. It will also put pressure on governments to provide more fiscal support for their economies.

 

If there is a huge surge in investor confidence as a result of successful vaccines which leads to a major switch out of government bonds into equities, which, in turn, causes government debt yields to rise, then there will be pressure on central banks to actively manage debt yields by further QE purchases of government debt; this would help to suppress the rise in debt yields and so keep the total interest bill on greatly expanded government debt portfolios within manageable parameters. It is also the main alternative to a programme of austerity.

 

The graph below as at 10th November, shows how the 10 year gilt yield in the UK spiked up after the Pfizer vaccine announcement on the previous day: -

 

 

 

INTEREST RATE FORECASTS

 

Brexit. The interest rate forecasts provided by Link in paragraph 3.3 are predicated on an assumption of a reasonable agreement being reached on trade negotiations between the UK and the EU by 31.12.20.  However, as the differences between a Brexit deal and a no deal are not as big as they once were, the economic costs of a no deal have diminished. The bigger risk is that relations between the UK and the EU deteriorate to such an extent that both sides start to unravel the agreements already put in place. So what really matters now is not whether there is a deal or a no deal, but what type of no deal it could be.

 

The differences between a deal and a no deal were much greater immediately after the EU Referendum in June 2016, and also just before the original Brexit deadline of 29.3.19. That’s partly because leaving the EU’s Single Market and Customs Union makes this Brexit a relatively “hard” one. But it’s mostly because a lot of arrangements have already been put in place. Indeed, since the Withdrawal Agreement laid down the terms of the break-up, both the UK and the EU have made substantial progress in granting financial services equivalence and the UK has replicated the bulk of the trade deals it had with non-EU countries via the EU. In a no deal in these circumstances (a “cooperative no deal”), GDP in 2021 as a whole may be only 1.0% lower than if there were a deal. In this situation, financial services equivalence would probably be granted during 2021 and, if necessary, the UK and the EU would probably rollover any temporary arrangements in the future.

 

The real risk is if the UK and the EU completely fall out. The UK could override part or all of the Withdrawal Agreement while the EU could respond by starting legal proceedings and few measures could be implemented to mitigate the disruption on 1.1.21. In such an “uncooperative no deal”, GDP could be 2.5% lower in 2021 as a whole than if there was a deal. The acrimony would probably continue beyond 2021 too, which may lead to fewer agreements in the future and the expiry of any temporary measures.

 

Relative to the slump in GDP endured during the COVID crisis, any hit from a no deal would be small. But the pandemic does mean there is less scope for policy to respond. Even so, the Chancellor could loosen fiscal policy by about £10bn (0.5% of GDP) and target it at those sectors hit hardest. The Bank of England could also prop up demand, most likely through more gilt and corporate bond purchases rather than negative interest rates.

 

Brexit may reduce the economy’s potential growth rate in the long run. However, much of that drag is now likely to be offset by an acceleration of productivity growth triggered by the digital revolution brought about by the COVID crisis.

 

So in summary there is not likely to be any change in Bank Rate in 20/21 – 21/22 due to whatever outcome there is from the trade negotiations and while there will probably be some movement in gilt yields / PWLB rates after the deadline date, there will probably be minimal enduring impact beyond the initial reaction.

 

The balance of risks to the UK

 

Downside risks to current forecasts for UK gilt yields and PWLB rates currently include:

 

Upside risks to current forecasts for UK gilt yields and PWLB rates

 

Link’s current central Interest Rate Forecast: