Despite the fact that in the UK quarantine was introduced only on March 23, the consequences of the blockage may lead to an economic collapse by 25% already in the second quarter.
This is reported by the agency “Bloomberg”, referring to the Bank of England.
The media say that the economic situation in Britain was ambiguous even before the coronavirus pandemic. Over the past year, growth was practically not observed due to Brexit. Thus, the Coronavirus era found the United Kingdom weakened.
Referring to the leaked media data from the British government on coronavirus damage, the baseline scenario would lead to a $413.5 billion deficit. Before the pandemic, that figure was projected at $68 billion. The worst-case scenario now involves a deficit of more than $633 billion.
“It’s very hard to imagine a rapid recovery of the V-shape and we don’t expect a return to pre-Virus activity levels before 2022”, – said James Smith, ING economist.
Consumer spending, the driving force behind the economy, fell 1.7% in the first quarter and continued to decline. In particular, the British Consortium of Retailers reports that sales fell by 19.1% in April compared to last year. This was the worst figure since the observations began.