This week’s biggest economic news came first thing this morning with the ONS (Office for National Statistics) releasing figures showing surprisingly strong economic growth for the UK in 2021.
Most headlines picked up on the fact that this was the strongest rebound since World War Two. The key figure being that GDP expanded by 7.5%. The last time the UK saw this level of growth was in 1941.
These figures show that the economy weathered the ‘omicron factor’ in a resilient way, not taking as big a hit as many forecasters predicted.
In the world of currencies, the Pound started recovering from its slight dip against the Euro, ending the week on £1: €1.19, up from last Friday but down from the almost 2 year high we saw a fortnight ago. Against the dollar, it gained one point over the week and is now sitting at £1: $1.36.