Downturn ‘as bad as the 70s’

The economic slowdown is as bad as the Seventies and could "drag on for some considerable time", the Bank of England’s new deputy governor has warned. Charles Bean, who took over as deputy governor earlier this year, said that every time the markets began to rally "another grenade" exploded.

But he described the current global financial crisis as a "transitory period" that would pass.

Speaking at the annual conference of the world's top central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in the United States, Bean said: "We've got our fingers crossed that things will improve. But… it looks like it will drag on for some considerable time further yet.

"This is just a transitory period of subdued growth and we will get through the other side and the growth will resume to more normal levels."