It’s not only making people sick and even die – but it crushes economies everywhere because Covid-19 is responsible for job losses, business closures and commercial disruptions.
And the UK is one country that finds itself in a unique predicament because it struggles with the simultaneous twin challenges of not just Covid-19 but also the arrogant act of so-called English independence we all know as Brexit. Either would stretch the country's economy to the limit – but both together can only be calamitous.
And of course, Brexit is making matters even worse.
The key conclusions of the first 90 days of Brexit are worrying: No fewer than 80 percent of businesses in the goods sector have experienced negative impacts. And about half of the companies in the services sector are similarly affected. Since January, it is claimed that the EU have exported 30 percent less to the UK, while the UK's exports to the EU have decreased by 40 percent.
The European Commission estimate that the UK’s departure from the EU will cost the former 2.25 percent of its GDP – equivalent to £40 billion in lost economic output – by 2022. (The EU, by contrast, would only lose around 0.5 percent of their GDP).
Therefore, Brexit brings to the UK higher costs, lower margins and longer delays. In fact, nearly all economists agree that Brexit has left the UK poorer.
I daresay that Covid and Brexit are turning the UK into the sick man of Europe again!
No comments:
Post a Comment