Los Angeles-SANA
The "Wall Street Journal" newspaper said that the British economy recorded a shrinkage of 9.9 percent last year due to the Corona pandemic, making it its largest contraction in more than 300 years.
According to data published by the British Statistics Office, reported by the newspaper today: “The British economy contracted by 9.9 in the year 2020, more than double the number recorded in 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis,” which is the largest decline among the G7 economic countries, which highlights the economic losses of the Corona epidemic in A country that has also suffered one of the world's deadliest outbreaks.
The decline is the worst in British history since 1709, when a cold wave known as the "Great Frost" largely devastated the agricultural economy at that time.
The data showed that the French GDP shrank by 8.3 percent, the Italian by 8.8 percent, while the German GDP decreased by 5 percent and the United States 3.5 percent.
According to the data, the service sector, which in turn represents about 80 percent of the British economy, has shrunk by 8.9 percent, with the production of food and accommodation companies, as well as beverages, by more than 55 percent from the levels of February, as well as manufacturing decline by 8.6 percent and construction by 12.5 percent.
British Treasury Secretary Rishi Sunak, for his part, said in a statement: “Today’s figures show that the economy has suffered a serious shock as a result of the Corona pandemic and that the current shutdown has a significant impact on companies and various sectors.”
Anelise Dodds, a spokeswoman for the opposition Labor Party, said that these figures confirm that Britain not only has the largest number of Corona virus victims in Europe, but that we are going through the worst economic crisis in any major economy, adding that: "Companies cannot wait any longer."
Economists at the UBS Global Institute emphasized that the stricter restrictions imposed at the end of last year and which are likely to remain in effect for most of the current quarter of the year indicate that the economy may contract again.
It is expected that the economy in Britain will continue to shrink in the first quarter of 2021 due to the repercussions of the third general closure to confront the Corona virus.
The British economy had recorded a similar decline again in 1921 when it contracted by 9.7 percent during the recession that followed the First World War, according to the bank's data. These data come at a time when the British economy is still restricted by restrictions and precautionary measures due to the repercussions of the Corona pandemic and the lockdown measures in the country.
Hatice Ali