UK Economy Rebounds in 2021 Even With Contraction in December

Source: Office for National Statistics

The British economy posted a rebound in the full-year 2021, even with the contraction recorded in the last month of the year. EWU is up 0.14%, and VGK up 0.02% premarket.

• Full-year economic growth stood at 7.5% in 2021, up from the 9.4% decline in 2020. Fourth-quarter growth was recorded at 1%.
• Fourth-quarter growth was driven by higher human health and social work activities, along with higher COVID-19 testing and tracing activities.
• Growth in December fell by 0.2%, down from the 0.7% growth in the previous month.
• The decline was mainly due to the decline in services, which fell by 0.5% due to the impact of the COVID-19 omicron variant on establishments.
• Consumer-facing services contracted by 3.0% and were 8.4% below their pre-pandemic levels. Retail trade fell 3.7%, while all other services were 2.8% above.