UK economy grew 15.5% in third quarter

Britain’s economy grew 15.5% in the third quarter, according to preliminary figures released Thursday, as it begins to rebound from a deep recession.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected quarterly growth of 15.8% in GDP (gross domestic product) in the three months to September. This follows an unprecedented 19.8% drop in the previous quarter, with nationwide lockdowns crippling activity.

The third quarter rebound marks the UK’s strongest quarterly expansion since record breaking in 1955, but GDP is still 9.7% below what it was at the end of 2019, said Thursday the Office for National Statistics. Compared to the third quarter of last year, GDP fell 9.6%.

Monthly growth slowed throughout the third quarter. GDP grew 6.3% in July, slowing to 2.2% in August and 1.1% in September, as it was pulled by professional, scientific and technical industries, according to the ONS.

However, with England now in a partial month-long lockdown until at least December 2 amid a resurgence in coronavirus cases, the recovery is expected to falter in the last three months of the year.

The deadline for the UK and the EU to reach an agreement on their post-Brexit trade relationship is also fast approaching, with a ‘no deal’ scenario at the end of the year expected to lead to further disruption economic.

UK Finance Minister Rishi Sunak recently announced the extension of the country’s paid holiday program until the end of March in order to ward off a sudden spike in unemployment, while the Bank of England increased its target stock asset purchases at 895 billion pounds ($ 1.2 trillion). ).

This is breaking news and will be updated shortly.