China News Service, London, February 13th (Zhang Mengqi) According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (ONS) on the 13th, due to the severe impact of the new crown epidemic restriction measures on economic output, the UK's GDP shrank by 9.9% last year, setting a record in 2020. The rate of contraction was "more than twice the largest annual decline on record."

  The National Bureau of Statistics of the United Kingdom showed that the output of major economic sectors in the United Kingdom has declined. The construction industry has the highest decline, which has contracted by 12.5%.

The Bank of England, the central bank of the United Kingdom, stated that the bank’s GDP model dates back centuries, and that the UK’s GDP has never fallen by more than 4.1% in a year. The contraction in 2020 may be the worst since 1709.

  Jonathan Athow, deputy statistician at the National Bureau of Statistics of the United Kingdom, pointed out that due to the high dependence of the British economy on the service industry, the service industry will be particularly affected by the nationwide epidemic lockdown in 2020.

  Suren Thiru, head of economics at the British Chamber of Commerce, said, “2020 is the bleakest year in the history of the British economy. Economic output is much lower than before the epidemic. There is nothing to be happy about in the latest data. We are experiencing a more serious economic crisis than any other major European economy."

Tiru appealed, "Enterprises can't wait any longer. Government departments now need to put forward a business support plan to ensure that economic support in the next few months goes hand in hand with epidemic restrictions."

  According to Kemar Whyte, a senior economist at the National Institute of Economics and Society in the United Kingdom, “With the support of a successful vaccination program, the British economy is like a'coiled spring', ready to release a large amount of backlog energy. ', consumer confidence will be greatly boosted, and the UK economy will be fully developed in the second quarter of 2021."

  British Chancellor of the Exchequer (Rishi Sunak) said that because the promotion of vaccines is progressing very smoothly, the government will work out a road map to lift the restrictions on the epidemic in the next few weeks. "We have reason to remain cautiously optimistic."

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