British firms are adapting to lockdowns—and confounding forecasters
The country looks set for rapid economic growth
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/sites/default/files/images/2021/03/articles/main/20210403_brp503.jpg)
FORECASTING THE economy during Britain’s first lockdown was relatively straightforward. A walk through any city centre told the same story as the real-time mobility data supplied by Google and Apple: ordering people to stay at home caused a collapse in economic activity. Forecasters accurately predicted the scale of the collapse as Britain experienced its fastest and deepest recession in a century.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Beating expectations”
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