The U.K. authorities have deployed a broad range of fiscal, monetary, and regulatory measures to mitigate the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. We anticipate that in 2020, the U.K. economy will contract by 9.7% and public finances will deteriorate, consolidating in subsequent years as the economy recovers. We are affirming our sovereign credit ratings at 'AA/A-1+'. The outlook is stable. On Oct. 23, 2020, S&P Global Ratings affirmed its 'AA/A-1+' unsolicited long- and short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on the U.K. The outlook is stable. At the same time, we affirmed our 'AA/A-1+' long- and short-term issuer credit ratings on the Bank of England (BoE) and our 'AA' ratings on the debt programs of Network Rail
