UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak on Friday pointed to indicators of resilience and indicated additional assist measures in his Budget assertion subsequent month as newest statistics confirmed the British economic system suffered its greatest decline in additional than 300 years in 2020.
As most companies, retailers and eating places proceed to wrestle by way of the coronavirus pandemic lockdown, the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) discovered that the economic system shrank 9.9 per cent final yr, greater than twice the determine for 2009 on the top of the worldwide monetary disaster.
The dire figures are the worst since 1709, when a chilly spell often known as the ‘Great Frost’ devastated what was then a largely agricultural economic system in Britain.
“While there are some positive signs of the economy’s resilience over the winter, we know that the current lockdown continues to have a significant impact on many people and businesses,” mentioned Sunak, in response to the figures.
“Today’s figures show that the economy has experienced a serious shock as a result of the pandemic, which has been felt by countries around the world,” mentioned the senior Cabinet Minister, who promised new plans to guard jobs and bolster the economic system when he delivers his Budget assertion within the House of Commons on March 3.
The ONS figures confirmed a fightback from the report quarterly droop between April and June 2020, the second quarter, when GDP nosedived by 20 per cent as a consequence of the preliminary lockdown.
They additionally confirmed the prospect of a so-called double-dip recession was averted on the finish of the yr amid renewed lockdown situations, with a primary estimate for the October-December quarter displaying development of 1 per cent — a greater than anticipated efficiency.
‘Loosening of restrictions in lots of components of the UK noticed components of the economic system get well some misplaced floor in December, with hospitality, automobile gross sales and hairdressers all seeing development,” mentioned Jonathan Athow, ONS deputy nationwide statistician for financial statistics.
“An increase in COVID-19 testing and tracing also boosted output. The economy continued to grow in the fourth quarter as a whole, despite the additional restrictions in November. However, GDP for the year fell by nearly 10 per cent, more than twice as much as the previous largest annual fall on record,” he mentioned.
According to Bank of England historic knowledge, it marked the worst efficiency for the economic system for the reason that ‘Great Frost’ hibernation of 1709 when a horrifically chilly European winter, adopted by widespread floods, crippled exercise.
