Last year, the UK economy collapsed by a record 9.9 percent, which was the largest recession in the country’s history, CNBC reports. The result was twice as bad as after the global economic crisis in 2009.
The reason for the collapse was the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions imposed because of it, which slowed down business activity. Economists expected that by the end of 2020, the decline in GDP will be 8 percent. According to Johns Hopkins University, by Friday, February 12, the United Kingdom has recorded over four million cases of COVID-19 and over 115,000 deaths. The situation is aggravated by the emergence of new strains of the virus.
In December last year it became known that in the first eight months of the fiscal year, UK government loans rose to a record 240.9 billion pounds (323 billion dollars). In November alone, spending exceeded tax revenue by £ 31.6 billion (about $ 42.4 billion). As a result, the UK faced the largest budget deficit in its history.
Bloomberg previously reported that the global economic recovery could stall due to the slow vaccination against the coronavirus of poorer countries and risks costing the world several trillion dollars. The US and UK now account for 40 percent of the 119.8 million vaccine doses. However, in most of the countries of Central Asia and Central America, vaccination has not yet begun or is progressing slowly. This means that emerging market economies risk falling further behind in the recovery.