Manama, May 12 (BNA) The British economy grew by 0.1% in the first three months of 2023, a period that was expected to be part of a long recession, but the unexpected sharp decline of 0.3% in March highlighted the fragility of its recovery . remains.
“The decline in March was driven by a broad-based decline in the services sector,” said Darren Morgan of the Office for National Statistics.
Britain’s economy remained 0.5% lower than it was in the fourth quarter of 2019, shortly before the coronavirus outbreak – a weaker recovery than any other major developed economy, according to Reuters.
Output in March was only 0.1% higher than in February 2020, the last full month before the pandemic hit.
The Bank of England on Thursday forecast that the UK economy would grow by 0.25% in 2023 as a whole – a weak expansion but an update to its previous forecast of a contraction of 0.5%.
Britain’s inflation rate topped 10% in March – twice the level in the US and higher than the eurozone too – and it is also grappling with a tight labor market, a series of interest rate increases and the effects of post-Brexit.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said after the data it showed the government’s need to “continue to focus on competitive taxation, employment saving and productivity”.
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