Director’s Remarks, November 2020 NIER

"We are living through some grim and difficult times in facing a Covid pandemic that is poorly understood and not yet under control. And to which the main economic instrument of response has been the deployment of lockdowns with varying degrees of stringency. The policy objective, as we have said since the early part of this year, must be to smooth the spread of the virus, limit the probability of overloading health and social care services and offset as much of the economic impact as sound monetary and fiscal policies will allow."