‘UK To Suffer Worst Economic Recession In 300 Years’
UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak says the nation’s economy is forecast to contract 11.3% this year, the worst performance in more than three centuries.
Sunak told parliament Wednesday that investment was vital to aid economic recovery.
Britain has since unveiled plans for more massive state spending despite soaring debt on coronavirus fallout, including pay rises for nurses to support the ravaged economy as the nation embarks on its post-Brexit future.
The UK economy, which tanked into a historic recession owing to pandemic fallout, was forecast to rebound by 5.5 per cent next year and by 6.6 per cent in 2022.
But chancellor of the exchequer Sunak said the nation’s gross domestic product was not expected to return to pre-virus levels until the fourth quarter of 2022.
Britain has been one of the worst-affected countries in the world in the Covid-19 outbreak, registering almost 56,000 deaths.
“Our health emergency is not yet over and our economic emergency has only just begun,” Sunak commented Wednesday as he unveiled the latest spending review of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government.
“So our immediate priority is to protect people’s lives and livelihoods,” the finance minister added.
