BoE's Carney: Small businesses will be biggest beneficiary of rate cut

Following the Bank of England's surprise decision to cut its policy rate by 50 basis points to 0.25%, outgoing Governor Carney said small businesses will be the biggest beneficiary of this rate cut. "The rate cut will give 3 billion sterling to households with floating-rate loans," Carney added.

While comparing the current crisis to the 2008's financial crisis, "coordinated rate cuts in 2008 were needed to get to the weekend," Carney said. "We are not in a place of needing to make it to the weekend now. There is no reason for this to be as bad as 2008 if there is targeted support".

GBP/USD reaction

After dropping below the 1.2850 mark with the initial market reaction to the rate cut announcement, the GBP/USD pair staged a rebound and was last seen trading at 1.2940, adding 0.25% on the day.