LONDON—Britain’s economy could shrink by 13 percent this year due to the government’s coronavirus shutdown, its deepest recession in three centuries, and public borrowing is set to surge to a post-World War II high, the country’s budget forecasters stated.
In the April–June period alone, economic output could plunge by 35 percent, with the unemployment rate more than doubling to 10 percent, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) stated on April 14. A bounce-back may come later in the year if restrictions on public life to slow the spread of the coronavirus are lifted, it added.
