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BOE's Tenreyro says coronavirus hit to global growth could be large

Pedestrians walk past the Bank of England in the financial district in London

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The impact of the coronavirus outbreak on global growth "may be large" given China's role in the world economy, and may stress financial markets just as tensions over a U.S.-China trade war did in 2019, Bank of England policymaker Silvana Tenreyro said on Friday.

Though trade tensions have ebbed, "a new risk to the outlook has emerged,” Tenreyro said, speaking at a monetary policy conference here. "There is still lots of uncertainty about what the effect will be…Investors have shifted to safe haven assets. Even if the virus is contained within China impacts on global GDP may be large."

(This story refiles to correct spelling error in headline, no change to text of story)

(Reporting by Howard Schneider; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)