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The UK economy grew a record 15.5% in the third quarter, but is still 8.2% smaller than before the pandemic, official figures show.
Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that gross domestic product (GDP) rebounded strongly in the July-September period after the pandemic-driven recession in the first half of the year.
But the pace of growth has started to slow after the momentum of the “eat out to help” program and the summer break faded, and hopes for a supposed “V-shaped recovery” were dashed after the announcement of a new lock.
GDP is expected to decline again in the last quarter of 2020, although there are wait to after that, a new vaccine could return the economy to pre-COVID levels more quickly than expected.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “Today’s figures show that our economy was recovering during the summer, but started to slow down in the fall.
“The steps we have had to take since then to stop the spread of the virus mean that growth has probably slowed further since then.
“But there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic on the health side, including promising news about tests and vaccines.
“There are still tough times ahead, but we will continue to support people through this and ensure that no one is left without hope or opportunity.”
Britain’s third-quarter growth figure was the highest since quarterly records began in 1955, but it fell short of expectations: Economists, on average, had targeted an expansion of close to 16%.
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A monthly breakdown of the data also showed that the pace of recovery from the recession was slowing.
After the lockdown measures were eased, GDP rose 6.3% in July, but growth slowed to 2.2% in August and only 1.1% in September.
At the end of September it was 8.2% below its February level and the size of the economy in the third quarter was 9.7% less than at the end of 2019.
Other countries have also reported record growth in the third quarter, as they rebound from the recession and remain below pre-pandemic levels.
But in some cases they have recovered faster.
The gap between GDP at the end of September and the end of 2019 is twice as large in the UK as in Italy, Germany and France and almost three times that in the US, which is 3.5% off in so far this year. said the ONS.
Hopes of a V-shaped recovery are dashed
The UK economy contracted 2.5% in the first quarter and a record 19.8% in the second quarter.
The ONS said that all major sectors of the UK economy posted record growth in the third quarter, although they remained below pre-COVID levels.
In September there was a boost for education as children went back to school and housing construction continued to recover.
“However, pubs and restaurants saw less business after the ‘eat out to help’ scheme ended, and accommodation saw less business after a successful summer,” said Jonathan Athow, ONS deputy national statistician for statistics. economic.
The ONS added that the rebound in business investment has been much weaker than that of private consumption.
Last week the Bank of England weathered its outlook for UK economic performance in 2020, and now expects GDP to contract by 11% overall.
This week’s figures illustrated that despite Mr. Sunak’s leave plan, the crisis is having a major impact on jobs, with a register 314,000 layoffs in the July-September period despite the recovery of the economy during that period.
