Reuters reports that Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said he was now more positive about the British economy as the novel coronavirus was in retreat though he cautioned the COVID-19 effect was huge.

Bailey said the British economy would recover this year and get back to its late 2019 level around the end of this year.

"There has been a very large build-up in saving in the economy," Bailey told the BBC. "The question of course then is: to what use will those savings be put?"

The BoE is expected to keep interest rates at their historic low of 0.1% and its bond-buying programme unchanged at 895 billion pounds at the end of its March meeting.