LONDON - Britain’s finance minister has told colleagues the economy could shrink by up to 30% this quarter because of the coronavirus lockdown, a newspaper reported, as the soaring death toll gave little hope restrictions would soon be lifted.
The government has had to defend its response to the outbreak, with complaints of insufficient testing, a dearth of protective kit for medics and questions about whether Prime Minister Boris Johnson was too slow to impose a lockdown. He thanked the public for adhering to strict social distancing measures, saying their efforts were worth it and had created a “human shield” around the state-run health service by reducing the spread of the new coronavirus.
The Times newspaper reported that Rishi Sunak, the finance minister, had discussed with colleagues the possibility that Gross Domestic Product would shrink by 25 to 30 percent between April and June.Citing unnamed ministers, the Times reported that Sunak and others were pushing for social distancing measures to be relaxed for the sake of the economy, while others were resisting because of the risk of exacerbating the coronavirus outbreak.
The Treasury spokesman said the figure of 14 billion pounds included some new funding and some previously announced, and represented a tally of everything that had been decided so far. Working in tandem, the Treasury and the Bank of England have announced a package of measures to stop the economy and labour market from collapsing, but there have been complaints that delivery is slow and patchy.
I thought that was the government's plan. Sink the economy allows several to die and then blame Labour
The population is also shrinking by 30%.
China must be held accountable for the death and suffering they have unleashed on the world. MakeChinaPay FreeHongKong YangFightsCCP NakumooFightsCCP lsm2035608886 graysonyang taylor_nakumoo
...and then Brexit at the end of the year! Woohoo....not
BREXIT IN COLD STORAGE ?
What about Megun and Harrisa ? or the fever scan ia camion of the vietnamites.
Is that with or without Brexit?
Economy has been adversely impacted by the pandemic Latest updates | cases per million population👇 CoronaVirusUpdate COVID2019
And they just donate to WHO?
we request BorisJohnson to take services from CMShehbaz as he has most knowledge about this disease than everybody else on this planet.............
That's the only reason any politician is worried about the people folks, without you they have nothing. They will slow this down prolong it over a few years so birth rates rise with lack of contraceptives to replace those who are taken away by covid.
OMG!!!
we need to build a ventilator for the economy the health of the economy is all that matters
The daily death toll is high but it’s now peaking. It is not “soaring”. These inaccurate hyperboles are not helping anyone
British Pound already tanked to all historic lows of $1.14 few weeks ago. Road to recovery is going to be extremely challenging for many first world countries after COVID19 crisis.
Thanks China 🇨🇳
zzzzzzzz
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