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Britain’s slowing economic recovery was even weaker than previously thought over the summer, according to revised official data.
The updated figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 1.1% in the third quarter, down from an earlier estimate of 1.3%.
They add to more recent evidence that the UK’s recovery was stuttering even before the arrival of the Omicron variant, which is expected to result in a further setback.
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However the data revisions, which stretch back into last year, also show the economy does not have quite as far to go to regain pre-pandemic levels.
That is because they now suggest GDP shrank by 9.4% last year – still the biggest slump in 99 years but smaller than the previously estimated 9.7%.
It means that by the end of September, Britain’s economy was 1.5% smaller than at the end of 2019, rather than 2.1%.
But it still lags the US, whose GDP has already surpassed pre-pandemic levels, and France, which was just 0.1% short of its size in 2019 by the third quarter.
The UK economy had grown by 5.4% in the second quarter of this year before slowing over the July-September period.
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That was thanks to supply chain problems holding back much of the economy – from car sales to construction – and the post-lockdown consumer spending bounce slowing.
The latest figures downgrade that third quarter performance even further.
Factors behind the downgrade range from the health sector, where…
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Source : skynews
