Vanessa Hale
Director, Research
Director, Research
The outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), declared by the World Health Organisation as a “Global Pandemic” on the 11th March 2020, has significantly impacted global economies. International travel restrictions as well as restrictions on individuals’ behaviour and activity have been implemented by most countries across the world.
Market activity is being impacted in many sectors, with some sectors, such as leisure, unable to function at all, and others, to include office-based service industries, hampered to a lesser degree with the ability for staff to work from home.
As other countries slowly start to come out of their lockdowns, more evidence will become available as to how markets, businesses and individuals respond. The world will also await further evidence on the pandemic, and whether countries will have to retain restrictions in some form for longer periods of time.
Boris Johnson’s announcement on 10th May stated that now is not the time to be coming out of lockdown. The speech used highly conditional language with regards to primary schools and some hospitality businesses returning to operation no earlier than the 1st June. The housing market was reopened in England on the 13th May with house moves and viewings able to resume under social distancing and safety rules.