Official figures show that the United Kingdom is the only (Group of Seven economy) that has yet to fully recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
Revisions dating back to the start of the Covid-19 outbreak indicate that GDP in the second quarter was still 0.2% lower than it was at the end of 2019. It had previously been estimated to be 0.6% higher.
Britain’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic has been slower than expected, and it is the only member of the G7 group of leading industrial countries whose output is still lower than it was before the crisis.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the UK economy contracted by 0.3% in the three months to September, compared to an initial estimate of a 0.2% drop. In addition, the ONS revised down growth in every quarter since the third quarter of 2021.
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๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ, ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐’๐ฌ ๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐ฑ๐ฉ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ ๐.๐% ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ซ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ซ๐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐๐ซ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ง ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ก๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐๐ – ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐๐ข๐๐ญ๐๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐.
The ONS previously estimated that the UK was 0.4% below its pre-pandemic level, and according to the most recent data, it is now the only G7 country that has yet to recover ground lost when the global economy was locked down in 2020.
GDP in the other G7 countries is 4.3% higher than in late 2019, and is higher by 2.7% in Canada, 1.8% in Italy, 1.1% in France, 0.9% in Japan, and 0.3% in Germany.
ย the UK’s underperformance is largely due to weakness in household real spending, which was 3.2% lower in the third quarter of 2022 than in the fourth quarter of 2019, compared to an average increase of 1.6% across the other G7 economies.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the economy grew by 0.2% in the second quarter, up from the 0.1% contraction previously estimated. That means the UK is not yet in recession, as many had predicted. However, previous revisions indicate that output was still 0.8% lower than previously estimated.
The current-account deficit, or the difference between money coming into the UK and money leaving, fell to ยฃ33.8 billion ($37.6 billion) in the second quarter, or 5.5% of GDP.
However, the recent market rout suggests that they are losing faith in the UK. The IMF predicts that the current-account deficit will be the highest among G-7 countries this year.
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