IT was the day Project Fear became Project We-Told-You-So, with the Bank of England’s Governor, Mark Carney, outlining how the damage done to the economy by Brexit was starting to become visible.

In the 12 days since the country voted out of the EU, the country has lost its AAA credit rating, the banks are having to spend their capital reserves, the pound has fallen to a 31 year low, and the deficit is to go back up.

Speaking as he published the bank’s six monthly Financial Stability Report, Carney stressed that efforts to lessen the impact of Brexit were having some effect.

Yesterday he announced plans to boost lending by up to £150bn, as he sounded warnings around the vulnerability of debt-laden households.

The Governor of the Bank of England rarely mentions the word recession.

Instead, Carney warned that the UK should prepare for a “material” slowdown in the economy.

Others were not so cautious, with James Knightley, economist at ING, warning measures taken by the Bank will “support asset prices and confidence.

“But with the UK potentially facing years of uncertainty, this is unlikely to be enough to prevent a recession in early 2017.”

The pound dropped below 1.31 US dollars for the first time since 1985 and sunk to its weakest level against the euro since 2013 at 1.17 euros.

Aviva’s decision to suspend trading in its £1.8bn property fund as investors pulled their money out of UK commercial property holdings, helped send the pound tumbling.

Trading was also suspended in Standard Life Investments’ £2.7bn fund, and M&G’s £4.4bn fund. The last time Standard Life suspended trading was just ahead of the 2008 crash.

The move saw housing firms Berkeley Group, Barratt Developments and Persimmon all fall more than six per cent.

The UK’s current account deficit, the value of goods and services we import, compared to the value of goods and services we export, stands close to an all-time record high, at 6.9 per cent of gross domestic product.

Carney announced plans to reduce the capital required to be held on banks’ balance sheets by £5.7bn, which it said would help bolster their lending firepower by up to £150bn.

But it said despite bank share falls of up to 20 per cent since the referendum, the UK’s financial system is in good health, having raised more than £130bn in “rainy-day” capital since the financial crisis.

In what was his third statement since the Brexit vote, Carney said he and the Bank of England, unlike the Government or the Leave campaign, had prepared for the outcome.

“The Bank has a clear plan. We are rapidly putting its main elements in place. And it is working,” Carney said.

Adding: “Today’s action means that UK households and business who want to seize viable opportunities in a post-referendum world can be confident they will be supported by the financial system.”

Eight major banks have also agreed with George Osborne to provide more lending to households and businesses.

The Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee meets next week, and policymakers are expected to cut interest rates from 0.5 per cent to 0.25 per cent.

Carney also said the Bank may revive their quantitative easing (QE) programme.

Stewart Hosie MP, the SNP’s Economy spokesperson, said there needed to be more investment: “The SNP has repeatedly said that monetary developments alone will not create economic and social progress – if the UK government is serious about creating this, they must end their ideologically driven and counterproductive austerity measures and release the investment necessary to stimulate prosperity.”

Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp, CEO of Business For Scotland praised Carney for subduing the instability caused by a “lack of credible political leadership at Westminster” but warned that his measures would see “personal debt and business debt to be added to a debt laden system with a poor balance of payments while reducing bank reserves.”