| UPDATED: 22:33, Mon, Feb 1, 2021
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Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer, has been tasked with commandeering Britain’s finances amid COVID-19, and recouping the cost of the pandemic. Many have suggested Mr Sunak will be announcing changes in his March Budget, which now is only a month away. Tax changes, and indeed rises, have been feared as a way to raise funds, but Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is one levy which has garnered significant attention.
The economy fared much better than expected during the November lockdown, triggering predictions that a vigorous rebound is on the cards.
Output, or gross domestic product, contracted by 2.6 per cent in November, the Office for National Statistics said.
This would still be a large fall during normal times, but is much smaller than the predictions of 5 per cent.
And while it was the first time the economy had shrunk since April in the depths of the first lockdown, November s decline was a fraction of the 18.8 per cent slump recorded that month.
At the end of November, the economy was 8.5 per cent smaller than its pre-virus size. Ruth Gregory, an economist at consultancy Capital Economics, said the Covid-19 economic hole is now far smaller than anticipated.