The British Office for National Statistics has just released the gross domestic product (GDP) figure for 2020, which is minus or a contraction of 9.9%. This figure shows the UK economy is at its worst in more than 300 years, or since 1709.
The cause of the worsening of the UK economy is the Corona virus pandemic (COVID-19). The lockdown policy taken by the British government made activity in the economic sector plummet.
Reporting from CNBC, Friday (12/2/2021), the economy in the fourth quarter of 2020 only grew 1%. Meanwhile, the UK economy in the third quarter of 2020 contracted 9.6% year on year (yoy). The worst contraction occurred in the second quarter of 2020 where it was minus 21.7% yoy. In Q1 2020, the UK economy was minus 1.7% compared to the same quarter in 2019.
UK Economy is Twice Worse than The 2019 Crisis
Overall, the UK economy in 2020, compared to 2019, only grew positively in the quarter. IV-2020.
During December 2020, the service sector grew 1.7% compared to the previous month, which experienced a contraction of 3.1%. Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector grew for 8 consecutive months, although the increase was still very small when compared to May 2020.
The British economy throughout 2020 showed a condition that was twice as bad as the global financial crisis in 2019, and slightly worse than the 9.7 contraction. % during the crisis in 1921.
To date, the UK is still battling COVID-19, where 4 million cases have been recorded with 115,000 deaths according to Johns Hopkins University data. The spread is still widespread due to the emergence of a new variant of COVID-19 in the country.
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