Negative economic consequences caused by the outbreak of the new Omicron strain may lead to the UK lagging behind other developed countries. Economists have already downgraded the country’s economic growth forecast to 5.1% in 2022.
The most pessimistic predictions were made by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and KPMG, a global network of professional firms providing audit, tax, and advisory services. The CBI said that “Britain's economy looks set to grow more slowly than previously thought this year and in 2023 due to global supply chain problems” and a drop in production. Experts at the CBI are sure that the pace of exports recovery in 2022 will be weak compared to the results of 2021. “Household spending would drive 90% of growth next year and two-thirds of it in 2023 thanks to a strong jobs market and savings racked up during the pandemic,” representatives of the CBI pinpointed. The accounting firm KPMG issued an even gloomier forecast, saying that in the best-case scenario, the country’s economic growth may reach 4.2% in 2022. The forecasts are likely to remain the same even if the Omicron variant turns out to be a “false alarm”. Meanwhile, any additional restrictions imposed by the government at the beginning of the upcoming year may only hamper the economic recovery. In this case, the growth may slacken to 2.3%.
