MESSAGE
| DATE | 2021-02-12 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] The rel cost of lockdowns
|
wsj.com
U.K. Economy Suffers Biggest Slump in 300 Years Amid Covid-19 Lockdowns
Jason Douglas
3-4 minutes
LONDON—The U.K. economy recorded its biggest contraction in more than
three centuries in 2020, according to official estimates, highlighting
the Covid-19 pandemic’s economic toll on a country that has also
suffered one of the world’s deadliest outbreaks.
Though the country is grappling with a new, highly contagious variant of
the coronavirus, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is hopeful that a rapid
vaccination drive will permit a gradual reopening of the economy in the
coming months, paving the way for a rapid rebound later in the year.
Gross domestic product shrank 9.9% over the year as a whole, the Office
for National Statistics said Friday, the largest decline among the Group
of Seven advanced economies. France’s economy shrank 8.3% and Italy’s
contracted 8.8%, according to provisional estimates. German GDP declined 5%.
The decline in U.K. GDP in 2020 was the largest in more than 300 years,
according to Bank of England data, though the preliminary estimate is
likely to be revised. BOE data shows the economy last recorded a
comparable drop in 1921, when it shrank 9.7% during the depression that
followed World War I. The economy recorded a bigger contraction, of 13%,
in 1709, during an unusually cold winter known as the Great Frost.
Britain’s economy was hit especially hard in the second quarter of the
year as a nationwide lockdown took effect. Social distancing and the
closure of restaurants, bars, hotels and theaters was painful for the
British economy, where a higher share of national income is spent on
recreation and similar services that require face-to-face contact than
in other comparable economies.
Britain’s Covid-19 Battle
The U.K. also kept restrictions on daily life and the economy in place
for longer than some of its peers as it struggled to bring down Covid-19
case loads. The U.K. has suffered one of the worst Covid-19 outbreaks,
with more than 120,000 deaths linked to the virus and at least four
million people infected.
A resurgent epidemic in the fall, which scientists later discovered was
fueled by a highly contagious variant of the virus that has since spread
around the world, also hurt growth.
Friday’s data showed the economy nevertheless performed better than
expected in the final quarter of the year, aided by government spending
and business investment. The economy grew 1% in the final quarter of the
year compared with the previous quarter, equivalent to an annualized
growth rate of 4%, the ONS said.
The U.K. in January returned to lockdown in an effort to contain the
spread of the new variant, which is expected to cause another
contraction in the first three months of the year.
The vaccination drive has so far inoculated more than 13.5 million
people, around a fifth of the population, with at least one dose. Mr.
Johnson is due to set out plans for a phased reopening of the economy
later this month.
Write to Jason Douglas at jason.douglas-at-wsj.com
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
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DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
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Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
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