[1andrew1]

I wonder what we've done differently to the rest of the G7?

UK remains only G7 economy to languish below pre-pandemic levels

GDP stuck 0.2% below final quarter of 2019, but latest growth data now positive

Significant revisions to UK data indicate that Britain is the only G7 economy that remains smaller than it was before the pandemic, despite an improved performance in the second quarter that diminished fears of recession.

Office for National Statistics figures released on Friday showed that UK gross domestic product for the three months to June this year remained 0.2 per cent below the level it reached in the final quarter of 2019.

Previously, official data had indicated that GDP had risen 0.6 per cent above pre-pandemic levels by June.

By contrast with the UK’s failure to return to pre-pandemic levels, the eurozone economy reached 1.8 per cent above 2019 levels in the second quarter. The US had recovered to pre-pandemic levels by the start of last year.

Friday’s UK growth downgrade was largely due to a lower ONS estimate of 2020 output. However, growth for 2021 and this year was revised higher.

Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the figures will compel the Office for Budget Responsibility, the UK fiscal watchdog, to revise down further its estimates for future potential GDP. They would also mean that the tax-to-GDP ratio will be slightly higher than previously estimated.

“The damage inflicted to the economy’s supply side by Covid and Brexit is even larger than previously thought,” Tombs said.

https://www.ft.com/content/4edae69b-...a-03d14ca8caa6