LONDON: Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane said on Thursday that he expected a rapid economic recovery would soon be underway but warned of the risk that existing patterns of social disadvantage had deepened because of COVID.

"As I've been saying for months - drawing on the economics of coiled springs, and crouching tigers, and 'Chicken Lickens' - I do think more likely than not we are (set) for a rapid-fire recovery. That is coming, and I think that is coming soon," he said.

However, he told the awards ceremony for Women In Business and Finance that he feared COVID had reinforced existing disadvantage within the labour force in some areas, and urged businesses to focus more on performance than presenteeism.