UK’s Covid slump was even WORSE than thought last Spring but the recovery has been faster fuelling hopes of strong bounceback
- The ONS says the UK’s downturn was even steeper than thought last Spring
- But the recovery has been faster since meaning recession was slightly smaller
- The findings will fuel hopes of a strong bounceback from the crippling pandemic
The UK’s coronavirus slump was even worse than thought last Spring – but the recovery has been faster with Rishi Sunak saying he is ‘confident’ of a quick bounceback.
Revised figures show a plunge of 19.5 per cent in the second quarter of last year, during the first brutal lockdown.
However, the economy clawed back ground more quickly than thought since – growing 16.9 per cent and and 1.3 per cent in the third and fourth quarters.
Overall the Office for National Statistics said the recession last year was marginally smaller than previously estimated, at 9.8 per cent rather than 9.9 per cent.
However, that still made it the worst downturn in 300 years.
The Chancellor struck a bullish tone in the wake of the figures this afternoon.
‘I am confident that we’re in a good position to recover strongly,’ he told ITV.
‘(Due) in-part to the vaccine rollout, which is proceeding very well and that is enabling us to take these steps to safely reopen our economy over the coming weeks and months.
‘And I know as we do that, businesses are raring to go. And hopefully the support that we’ve provided to them has enabled them to get through to this period. And now once they’re open again, we can hopefully get things back to them.’
Revised figures show a plunge of 19.5 per cent in the second quarter of last year, during the first brutal lockdown. But the economy clawed back ground more quickly than previously estimated
Chancellor Rishi Sunak struck a bullish tone in the wake of the figures this afternoon
Deputy National Statistician for Economic Statistics Jonathan Athow said:
‘Our revised quarterly figures show the economy shrank a little more than previously estimated in the initial stages of the pandemic, before recovering slightly more strongly in the second half of last year.
‘However, these new estimates paint the same overall picture as before, with historically large falls in GDP in the Spring, followed by a recovery in the Summer and Autumn.’
The revised 9.8 per cent recession in 2020 still made it the worst downturn in 300 years