Last year, the UK economy collapsed by a record 9.9 percent, which was the largest decline in the country’s history, CNBC reports. The result was twice as bad as after the global economic crisis in 2009.

The cause of the collapse was the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions imposed because of it, which slowed down business activity. Economists expected that by the end of 2020, the GDP decline will be 8 percent. According to Johns Hopkins University, by Friday, February 12, the United Kingdom had more than four million cases of COVID-19 and over 115,000 deaths. The situation is compounded by the emergence of new strains of the virus.

In December last year, everyone learned that in the first eight months of the fiscal year, UK state loans rose to a record 240.9 billion pounds (323 billion dollars). In November, expenditure exceeded tax revenue by £31.6 billion (about $42.4 billion). As a result, the UK faced the largest budget deficit in its history.