a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) The United Kingdom is expected to decline by 11.3% in the build-up in 2020, due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic, which will represent the largest decline recorded in more than 300 years, the British Economy Minister indicated on Wednesday (25), Rishi.
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Based on data from the Office of Budget Responsibility, which oversees local public finances, Sunak indicated that the economy will grow by 5.5% in 2021, 6.6% in 2022, and 2.3% in 2023, although it has not yet reached Pre-crisis by the end of 2022.
The minister revealed the impact of the coronavirus by presenting to the House of Commons a so-called spending review, his budget priorities for the 2021-22 financial year, which are dominated by the fight against the virus, and Brexit.
In addition to the annual budget, due in March, the review intends to lay the foundations for each government’s economic policy throughout its tenure, although this time it covers only one fiscal year due to the current context of uncertainties.
To counter the crisis caused by the pandemic, the chancellor said, the government will borrow 394 billion pounds (about 442 billion US dollars) this year, at 19% of GDP, the largest budget debt in the country’s history “in times of peace”. from the treasury.
He warned that the annual deficit would exceed $133.4 billion for the remainder of the period ending in 2024.
Sunak told MPs that in 2020, the state will invest £280 billion in the fight against coronavirus – with the help of employment and the health sector – and in 2021 he expects at least another 55 billion to be earmarked for this purpose.
Among his spending targets, he confirmed that National Health Service (NHS) staff would be offered a raise, even though other public sector workers, such as police officers or teachers, would have their salaries frozen next year.
He said infrastructure investment, aimed in part at reviving the more depressed areas of northern England and now to be managed by a new bank, would reach 100 billion pounds (about 133.4 billion dollars) in 2021.
As for the ministries, the government announced, last Wednesday, that it intends to increase the defense budget by 16.5 billion pounds (about 22 billion dollars) over the next four years.
In turn, Labor Economics spokeswoman Anneliese Dodds criticized the “Conservative” CEO to freeze civil servants’ salaries, and lamented that Sunak “did not mention in his speech about Brexit” or “the cost of leaving the EU”. European Union (EU) without a bilateral trade agreement” at the end of the transition period on December 31.
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