Economic Commentary [March 2021]

A full year has passed since the UK went into its first nationwide lockdown. No one knew what the next 12 months would hold this time last year. Some thought we would face a few weeks or months of restrictions, others believed we would be in this for the long haul. Either way, I am not sure any of us were prepared for the scale of economic and social disruption that has been caused by the pandemic – or the human cost. As this quarter’s Commentary notes, one of the defining features of this economic crisis has been the uneven impact on different sectors. For some industries, including science, technology, and information and communication, after some initial disruption, trading has remained steady at almost pre-pandemic levels