Europe

Home page

Europe

Spread of "Delta" COVID-19 knocks wind out of UK economy in July

10 September 2021 20:05 (UTC +04:00)

Britain's economy unexpectedly slowed to a crawl in July as the Delta variant of COVID-19 spread rapidly after lockdown restrictions were eased and as a 'pingdemic' kept many workers at home self-isolating, APA reports citing Reuters.

Economic output rose just 0.1% in July, the Office for National Statistics said on Friday, the smallest monthly increase since January when Britain went into a new national lockdown.

Economists polled by Reuters had mostly expected month-on-month growth of 0.6% in gross domestic product. Only two of the 26 analysts had expected such a weak reading.

Finance minister Rishi Sunak said he was confident that the economy would continue to recover from the pandemic.

But the slowdown in growth may bolster the case of Bank of England officials who think it is premature to talk about withdrawing stimulus, despite growing inflation pressure.