Britain’s economic recovery slowed more sharply than previously thought from the fallout of the pandemic in the third quarter even before the arrival of the Omicron edition, official data showed on Wednesday.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement that GDP grew by 1.1 percent in the July-September period, as the economy reopened.
Global supply disruptions hurt businesses after a revised downward revision of 5.4 percent in the second quarter, compared with a prior estimate of 1.3 percent.
Economists predict the slowdown due to recent restrictions aimed at combating the spread of the Omicron coronavirus outbreak that emerged in November will extend into the fourth quarter, while also weighing on a rise in inflation and a Bank of England interest rate hike.
Still, the ONS said on Wednesday that the economy was close to its pre-pandemic levels in the third quarter as a result of an upgrade to last year’s data.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declined by 9.4 percent in 2020 due to the COVID-19 emergency health crisis.
This was up from the earlier figure of 9.7 per cent contraction.
ONS official Darren Morgan said: “Our revised figures show that UK GDP slowed slightly in the third quarter, with health and hairdressers underperforming throughout the quarter, and the energy sector contracted more than previously estimated in September.” “
“However, strong data for 2020 means the economy was close to pre-pandemic levels in the third quarter.”
He also noted that the reopening of the economy resulted in households saving less cash, but savings were still at pre-pandemic levels.
Meanwhile the economy is projected to take a major hit from the new coronavirus restrictions imposed earlier this month in response to the massive Covid infection rate.
“The fall in GDP in the third quarter means the economy has slowed down a bit in the last months of the year, as we previously thought,” said Bethany Beckett, a noted economist at Capital Economics.
“And given early signs that the massive jump in COVID-19 infections has impacted activity so far in December, growth slowed in the fourth quarter.”
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