Growth has been slow for nearly two decadespublished at 06:54 GMT
Michael Race
Business and economics reporter
The story of economic growth in the UK over the past two decades has been one of mainly weakness. Since the global financial crisis in 2008, growth has been slow.
Economists put that down to various factors.
The big ones are hits from the economic shocks in recent years from the Covid pandemic and energy price spikes caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But experts, such as those at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, also say low investment, policy mistakes from governments, Brexit and political instability (the UK has had seven prime ministers and nine chancellors in the space of a decade) have taken their toll.
However, the word being repeatedly used in recent months when describing the economy has been “resilient”. The blow to the UK economy from the US-Iran war has not been, to date, as bad as feared. Growth forecasts for this year have been revised up.
Saying all that, growth expectations have been lowered for next year as high energy prices are due to hit households and businesses.
Only time will tell if the economy will defy the forecasts.
Image source, EPA
