The UK is the only G7 economy not to have recovered to pre-pandemic levels, according to revised data from the Office for National Statistics. The figures show that GDP for the three months to June this year remained 0.2 per cent below the level reached in the final quarter of 2019. Official data had previously suggested that GDP had risen 0.6 per cent above pre-pandemic levels.
This puts Britain at the bottom of the G7 league table. The United States' economy is 2.6 per cent above pre-pandemic levels, and the Canadian and French economies are up 1.7 per cent and 0.9 per cent up respectively.
However, the ONS did revise UK growth up for the second quarter of this year. Rather than contracting by 0.1 per cent, the British economy is now thought to have grown by 0.2 per cent, raising hopes that the country may avoid a formal recession (defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth).
[See also: Why we can’t blame Covid for the state of schools]
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