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New lockdown fears trigger stark warning on UK economy's 'uneven' recovery from recession


The UK has now entered into a recession as the economy shrank 20.4 percent compared with the first three months of the year, with many experts arguing that the coronavirus crisis and lockdown was the reason for this. Head of economics at British Chambers of Commerce Suren Thiru spoke to BBC Breakfast and claimed the UK would have an uneven rise out of this recession.

He said he expects the UK will exit the recession in the third quarter of 2020 but also reflected on his fears of a second lockdown.

He noted that another lockdown, local or otherwise, could cause more difficulties for the UK and act as another economic blow.

Mr Thiru said: “There is no getting away from the fact that this pit in the economy is unprecedented.

“If you look at the data, you can see that all sectors of the economy took a massive hit in the second quarter of this year.”

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The BBC presenter replied: “Services and construction in particular unsurprisingly took a massive hit.

“How do you see the trajectory of their recovery from now?

“In some ways we have entered a false sense of security with the sort of pent up demand.

“But it is towards the autumn that concerns will be at their height.”

Mr Thiru explained the reasoning behind this uneven recovery in the recession.

He said: “That is because some of the restrictions such as social distancing are easy to implement in construction and manufacturing.

“Easier than in sectors that are consumer focussed type industries.”

The economics expert also reflected on what impact further lockdown would have on the economy.

Mr Thiru said: “The big unknown is what happens with the virus.

“We are seeing a series of local lockdowns and as that becomes more significant that could mean a second hit to the economy.”





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