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Saturday, 22 August 2020_For the first time since the 1960-61 financial year, public debt in the UK has topped 100 percent of the GDP, meaning the country now owes more than it produces in an entire year.
The figure was released by the country’s office for national statistics (ONS). The main culprit the covid-19 pandemic and the consequent government spending of money it borrowed from banks and other financial institutions on emergency lockdown measures such as the furlough scheme, a taxpayer-funded leave where an employee or worker agrees with their employer to stop work temporarily but stay employed.
At the moment, around one in eight British workers remains on furlough. The government's job retention scheme covers 80 percent of each employee’s usual monthly wage of up to 25-hundred pounds. But the support is set to end in October despite the opposition calling for it to be extended, meaning more people are likely to lose their jobs.
That against the backdrop of a deep economic recession, and faltering talks with the EU on future ties after a post-Brexit transition period, sending millions of Brits worrying about their future.
Without a doubt, the road ahead will be bumpy and tough decisions will have to be made, but it remains unclear, what shape and form those "difficult decisions" will take.
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