The economic crisis currently going on in the United Kingdom, one of the leading countries in the developed world, will take an extreme form in 2023. The world's second largest lender, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said in a statement that the country's economy is literally sinking this year.
The IMF says that the economy will recover from the Corona epidemic in 2023 - the idea that was prevalent in Britain, has no resemblance to the current reality; Instead, this year, Britain's economy will shrink by 6 percent.
The IMF said it was rare for the economy of one of the world's richest countries to shrink to such an extent in just one year. However, the agency also said, despite the massive pressure, Britain's economy is currently on the right track.
Since 2022, the price of energy products in the UK retail market has skyrocketed. Keeping pace with it, the cost of food-housing and daily living is increasing in the country every day. The government's tax hike and staff shortage in various sectors have made public life more miserable.
According to a section of economists in the United Kingdom, the main reason for the current economic crisis is not the corona epidemic, but the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (EU), which is known as Brexit.
After 52 percent of the people voted in favor of Brexit in a 2016 referendum, the British Parliament initially set a date of March 31, 2019.
But after the EU's deal with then Prime Minister Theresa May was rejected several times in Parliament, the deadline for Brexit was extended.
Johnson took over as prime minister when May left office; The Tory leader, known as a staunch Brexiteer, has called a new election within months. The EU's deal with him was also approved by the British Parliament after a large majority in the December vote, and the UK finally left the EU in January 2020.
The covid pandemic started that year; After nearly one and a half years of lockdown, quarantine and strict border restrictions due to this pandemic, i.e. from March 2020 to mid-2021, the country's economy and the common people of the country have started to function, and the cost of living has increased tremendously.
A recent IMF statement, while not directly blaming Brexit for Britain's economic pressures, hinted at it.
The statement said, "It was thought that Russia would face severe economic pressure from the current year 2023 due to the series of sanctions imposed due to the war in Ukraine - but the actual situation does not provide such information." The forecast says that Russia will not be under any great economic pressure, but the UK will be under great pressure as the world's largest economy and the country's economy is going to sink this year.
Britain's finance minister, Jeremy Hunt, dismissed the IMF's forecast, saying, "The IMF has expressed fears about the economy (of the UK) at different times before, and Britain has proven those fears to be unfounded." The same will happen this time, because the country is on the right track under the current government.
But Britain's opposition Labor Party leader Rachel Reeves said, 'I haven't read the (IMF) report in full, so I won't comment on what it says; But we are falling behind day by day compared to our allies in other European countries - it is true.
Human Voice/FI
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