In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.

The American founding father Benjamin Franklin said, but these are exceptionally uncertain

times.

As the new coronavirus pandemic continues to spread around the world, predictions for 2020

are being torn up.

The OECD has downgraded its growth predictions for almost all of the big economies.

Having President Donald Trump's announcement on Wednesday of the suspension of travel to

the US from Europe, stocks plunged again.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down more than 20% from its high last month, ending

a bull market that ran for more than a decade.

And while governments try to reassure the public, the pandemic is entering a new phase.

You're listening to the economist asks, I'm Anne McHalevoy, and this week we're asking,

when forecasters keep up with the coronavirus era.

My guest today is Lord King, Mervyn King, a man whose no stranger himself to turbulence

as a former governor of the Bank of England, from 2003 to 2013.

He led the institution from the height of booming Britain through the global financial crisis

and into recovery.

Now with the economist John Kay, he's the author of Radical Uncertainty Decision Making

for an unknowable future.

Mervyn King, welcome to the economist asks.

And hello and hello to all the listeners wherever they are.

So tell all the listeners wherever they may be, homework or hiding away from the virus,

...