The governor of the Bank of England is urging businesses to carefully consider the support on offer before cutting jobs.
Some businesses across the country have already announced their intention to cut jobs in order to maintain the business, but Andrew Bailey, who only became governor of the Bank of England on Monday, said: "Stop, look at what's available, come and talk to us [or] the government before you take that position."
It comes after the Chancellor Rishi Sunak yesterday (Tuesday) announced a host of measures to support small businesses, including £330 billion worth of government-backed loans.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Bailey said: "I would emphasise the point that it's critical that we support the needs of the people in the country."
He added that "supporting the employment and income of the people in this country is critical".
The Bank of England is widely expected to increase quantitative easing - a process whereby a central bank buys government debt - by tens of billions of pounds at its regular meeting next week. Mr Bailey said he didn't want to speculate what would be agreed by the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee, and explained the Bank is likely to work "in a very closely co-ordinated way with the government".
"This is a crisis we're all in. It's an emergency situation," Mr Bailey said.
