The good pandemic-related news continued to emerge last week.
Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics shows output jumped 4.8 per cent in the second quarter of this year, driven by the lifting of Covid restrictions on sectors that rely on face-to-face and social contact to generate income.
The services industry – which accounts for around 80 per cent of the UK economy – roared back to life as consumers rushed to capitalise on their newfound freedoms by heading to pubs, bars, restaurants and high streets.
The kickoff of Euro 2020 during the final month of the quarter provided an extra fillip as people watched England progress through the early stages of the tournament.
While this is all clearly very good news, one figure in the ONS’ data dump is a cause for concern – business investment.
The ONS said investment by firms has risen 2.4 per cent in the second quarter, an outlier in the string of historically high economic data of late.
This low rate of growth is an indication of the severely uncertain…
