UK rebound losing speed, even before lockdown

The UK is back in lockdown.

And it looks like an economic rebound was already cooling off even before the new restrictions were imposed.

Figures out Thursday (November 12) showed a slower-than-expected expansion of 1.1 percent on the month in September.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 1.5%.

Over the quarter, things look a little rosier.

GDP grew by a record 15.5% between July and September, compared with the previous three months.

But that still failed to make up for the crash in the previous period, when the country was in the grip of the first lockdown.

The Bank of England last week predicted that the world’s sixth-biggest economy would shrink by a record 11% this year.

Since then, however, news of a potential vaccine has raised hopes of a stronger rebound.

Even if some Londoners at least remain to be convinced:

"I'd be, I wouldn't initially take it because, yeah, well, I need to know far more about it. I think I need to think about what it means for kids and that sort of thing. So I wouldn't jump at it straight away.”

For now the economy is being propped up with emergency spending of about 200 billion pounds - about 264 billion dollars.

But finance minister Rishi Sunak concedes that the latest restrictions will probably have caused a further slowdown.

And even when lockdown 2 ends, another uncertainty looms.

The UK and EU still have no agreement on a Brexit trade deal, and time is fast running out.