The UK has risen to become the fourth richest nation in the world, with the average family better off than those in France, Italy and Japan, according to the latest figures available from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
According to the ONS, the UK is now only behind the United States, Canada and Germany on the rich list, with gross domestic product (GDP) at £21,692 in 2012, whereas in 1997, we came in at number six.
In addition, despite the slowest economic recovery since WWII, between early 2013 and now, the UK has moved from having one of the slowest growth rates in the G7 to one of the fastest, with a report from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) revealing last week that the economy is growing at its fastest pace for a decade.
However, the ONS also revealed that output in the UK is still 0.6 per cent below its pre-crisis peak, having fallen 7.2 per cent during the most recent recession.
Wages are also picking up, whereas they had lagged behind the rest of the G7 until recently, and inflation has fallen below the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target.
On top of this, the UK is set to be the best performing major economy in the developed world this year, according to forecasts from the Bank and the International Monetary Fund,
However, the Government is being warned that it must take further steps to stimulate growth and create jobs through measures to be announced in the Queen’s Speech today (June 4), or the momentum could be lost.
The CBI has advised the Government to focus on “embedding” existing measures aimed at delivering long-term prosperity rather than unveiling new legislation, while the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has called for “action, not words and bills”.
Meanwhile, the manufacturers’ organisation EEF said that the Queen’s Speech “must show business that government has the momentum to keep going for the next 11 months and not stall just as the economy is beginning to motor”.