LONDON: Britain’s economy shrank by 2.6 per cent in November, the first monthly fall in output since the country was under its initial COVID lockdown last April as new restrictions were imposed to slow the spread of the disease.
However, the scale of the decline was much smaller than most analysts expected — a Reuters poll had pointed to a 5.7 per cent contraction.
Britain’s economy is now 8.5 per cent smaller than it was before the start of the coronavirus pandemic in February.
“Many businesses adjusted to the new working conditions during the pandemic... while schools also stayed open, meaning the impact on the economy was significantly smaller in November than during the first lockdown,” ONS statistician Darren Morgan said.
The Bank of England had estimated Britain’s economy would shrink by just over 1 per cent over the final three months of 2020.
With a new lockdown in place since January the country is still at risk of falling into a double-dip recession. — Reuters
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