Revisions show UK economy no longer the post-pandemic laggard
investing.comBy David Milliken and Andy Bruce
LONDON (Reuters) — Britain's economic performance since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic has been much stronger than previously thought, with faster growth than Germany or France, according to revisions to official data released on Friday.
Britain's economy in the three months to the end of June 2023 was 1.8% larger than in the final quarter of 2019, the last full quarter before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Office for National Statistics said.
This represented a big upward revision from the most recent previous ONS estimate, made on Aug. 11, that the economy was still 0.2% smaller than before the pandemic, which had placed it at the bottom of the table among major advanced economies.
An increased estimate of the size of Britain's economy had been widely expected, after the ONS published preliminary revisions on Sept. 1 suggesting the economy was already 0.6% larger than its pre-pandemic size in the final quarter of 2021.
Britain's relative economic performance since the pandemic and its departure from the European Union has been a focus of political debate, especially with a national election likely next year.
«People doubted the strength of the UK economy — today's data proves them wrong,» Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on social media as he prepared to head to his Conservative Party's annual conference.
Britain's gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 1.8% over the period exceeds growth of 1.7% in France and 0.2% in Germany, but trails far behind the 6.1% expansion seen in the United States and is also weaker than in Japan, Italy or Canada.
Recent growth has been lacklustre by historical standards, and many households have been severely affected by the soaring cost of
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