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HE government is borrowing more than £1 billion a day to keep the UK economy afloat, the latest “eye-wateringly large” official figures show.
Tumbling retail sales and other economic indicators were also grim with a “double-dip” recession likely. The hard-hit services sector, three quarters of the economy, slumped. Companies are cutting jobs apace.
In December alone the government borrowed £34 billion, the third highest ever figure for any single month.
That takes the total national debt to £2.13 trillion, leaving the debt to GDP ratio at 99.4%, or 102.9% if you include the debt held in public sector banks. Some in the City believe that when that ratio goes above 100%, serious problems ensue. Chancellor Rishi Sunak is said to be pondering tax increases in the March budget.
LONDON British retailers struggled to recover in December from a partial coronavirus lockdown the previous month, marking a weak end to their worst year on…
Home UK retailers miss out on Christmas shopping boost
UK retailers miss out on Christmas shopping boost
Meagre spending growth in December coincides with further weakening of public finances
World Economy News
22 Jan 2021 • 3 min read
UK retail sales rose less than expected in December as shoppers preparing for a pandemic-hit Christmas eschewed spending significant amounts.
The volume of sales by value climbed just 0.3 per cent in December from the previous month, even though shops reopened across England following a November lockdown, according to data published by the Office for National Statistics on Friday.
The data confirmed that the 1.9 per cent fall in 2020 was the biggest since records began in 1997.
UK retailers struggle to recover from COVID-19 lockdown woes
22 Jan 2021 People shop at a supermarket in London. File/Reuters British retailers struggled to recover in December from a partial coronavirus lockdown the previous month, marking a weak end to their worst year on record, while public debt has climbed to its highest since 1962, official data showed on Friday.
The figures suggest Britain’s economy had little momentum going into 2021 with a tightening of COVID-19 lockdown rules on January 5 to tackle a surge in cases that has kept Britain’s death toll the highest in Europe.
Finance Minister Rishi Sunak faces pressure from some in his Conservative Party to show spending is under control when he presents a new budget on March 3, after what is on track to be the heaviest annual borrowing since World War Two.