Economy

UK economy grew more slowly than thought before Omicron hit – Financial Post

Published

3 years ago

December 22, 2021

LONDON — Britain’s economy grew more slowly than previously thought in the July-September period, before the Omicron variant of the coronavirus posed a further threat to the recovery later in the year, official data showed on Wednesday.

Gross domestic product in the world’s fifth-biggest economy increased by 1.1% in the third quarter, weaker than a preliminary estimate of growth of 1.3%.

That was slower than the economy’s 5.4% bounce-back in the second quarter when many coronavirus restrictions were lifted, the Office for National Statistics said.

Investors are braced for a slowdown in growth in the fourth quarter of 2021 due to a rise in COVI9-cases caused by Omicron which has hurt Britain’s hospitality and leisure sector and hit retailers.

“Our revised figures show UK GDP recovered a little slower in the third quarter, with much weaker performances from health and hairdressers across the quarter, and the energy sector contracting more in September, than we previously estimated,” ONS Director of Economic Statistics Darren Morgan said.

“However, stronger data for 2020 means the economy was closer to pre-pandemic levels in the third quarter,” he said.

The level of GDP was 1.5% below where it was at the end of 2019, revised up from the previous estimate of 2.1% below its pre-pandemic level.

Business investment fell by 2.5% in the third quarter from the previous three months and was nearly 12% below its pre-pandemic level.

The Bank of England is hoping for a revival of business investment to help improve Britain’s longer-term growth prospects.

Britain balance of payments deficit widened to 24.4 billion pounds to as goods exports fell, goods imports grew and foreign companies received more income from their investments in the United Kingdom.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected a smaller deficit of 15.6 billion pounds. (Writing by William Schomberg, editing by Andy Bruce)

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Economy

PBO projects deficit exceeded Liberals’ $40B pledge, economy to rebound in 2025

Published

19 hours ago

October 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.

However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.

The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.

The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.

The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

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Economy

Statistics Canada says levels of food insecurity rose in 2022

Published

2 days ago

October 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.

In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.

The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.

Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.

In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.

It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.

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Economy

Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales fell 1.3% to $69.4B in August

Published

2 days ago

October 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales in August fell to their lowest level since January 2022 as sales in the primary metal and petroleum and coal product subsectors fell.

The agency says manufacturing sales fell 1.3 per cent to $69.4 billion in August, after rising 1.1 per cent in July.

The drop came as sales in the primary metal subsector dropped 6.4 per cent to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower volumes.

Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 3.7 per cent to $7.8 billion in August on lower prices.

Meanwhile, sales of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3 per cent to $2.7 billion in August and wood product sales increased 3.8 per cent to $3.1 billion.

Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 0.8 per cent in August.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.

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