Furthermore, the recovery in exports may be slower than expected if international tourism – and foreign demand generally – take longer than expected to recover, or if sectors worst hit by the pandemic fail to restructure to remain competitive. Turning to the banking sector, the local banks entered the COVID-19 crisis from a solid financial position since they were operating with ample liquidity and high capital ratios, good profitability and declining NPLs. However, the banking sector, just like virtually all other businesses, was certainly not immune to the effects of the spread of COVID-19. It presented banks with unprecedented challenges, both from an operational perspective and financially. Firstly, banks have focused on keeping their employees and customers physically safe and followed the guidelines and recommendations issued by the authorities. The banks ensured that all their business functions continued to operate as seamlessly as possible with the least possible impact on customer services. In particular, their digital banking platforms allowed their customers to continue to undertake banking transactions from the safety of their own homes. Overall, domestic banks responded positively to this challenge and they are proving to be instrumental in supporting both businesses and households, and in providing credit to facilitate the economic recovery. Banks were pro-active and had voluntarily already began providing moratoria before the coming into effect of Directive No. 18. This was necessary to support both businesses and households that had experienced a sudden stop or reduction in income flows as a result of the pandemic.

£ character selection and Future Forum launch Remarks given by Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England  Science Museum, London Friday 2 November 2018  I am grateful to Clare Macallan and Jennifer Nemeth for their assistance in drafting these remarks and to Lizzie Levett, Emma Sinclair and Toby Davies for providing background information. 1  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Pages/speeches/default.aspx  It is always a pleasure to visit the Science Museum. Its galleries and exhibitions showcase the rich history of human ingenuity in the sciences, technology, and medicine. You might think that the Bank of England has little in common with such lofty endeavours, but science spans all aspects of life, extending even to central banking. Within this Mathematics Gallery alone, there are multiple examples of where the worlds of central banking and science converge. Take the Moniac machine, which illustrates the circular flow of income around the economy using an assortment of pipes and coloured water. Or Babbage’s Analytical Engine, developed in collaboration with mathematician Ada Lovelace. This precursor to modern computers helped estimate mortality rates, techniques that are still central to underwriting life insurance policies today. The same life insurers that we regulate at the Bank of England. Among those who are supervising, modelling and policymaking, are the Bank’s very own scientists. Almost 10% of colleagues across the Bank have a science or maths degree and 1 in 10 of our graduates starting this year studied chemistry, biology or physics at university.