UK always underinvested but today falling further behind G-7, says think tank

By Aysu Bicer

LONDON (AA) - While low investment has been a long-running trend in the UK, it is now falling further behind other advanced economies in the G-7, according to a new report released on Tuesday.

In its latest report, the London-based Institute for Public Policy Research raised concerns about the sluggishness of the economy and warned that unless there is a significant change, Britain could fall further behind other wealthy nations.

"With public investment well below the G7 average and business investment at the bottom of the league, the UK has little hope of breaking out of its growth doom loop without sustained investment," it said.

Compared to fellow G-7 members Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US, and EU, the UK has the lowest level of business investment.

It ranked 27th out of 30 OECD nations in 2021, ahead of only Poland, Luxembourg, and Greece, in terms of investment.

The last time the UK surpassed the G-7 median investment level was in 1990.

The report also noted that public investment in the UK had never exceeded either the OECD or G-7 average.

"If the public sector had been similarly average in the G-7 over the same period, the British government would have invested an additional £208.4 billion (about $265 billion) in real terms," it underlined.

"Combining public and private investment, this would total an additional £562.7 billion, or over half a trillion pounds over 16 years in real terms," it added.

The pressing issue at hand, according to the think tank, is inadequate investment in green technologies, which is impeding Britain's efforts to transition towards a decarbonized economy.

"This lack of action to spur makes it less likely that this country will capture the economic up-side; the domestic production in the industries of tomorrow."