UK card spending recovers to 100% of pre-pandemic level

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FILE PHOTO: An employee is seen working behind a protective screen and a sign reading “Card payment only” in a Pret a Manger store that has reopened for delivery and takeaway in Wimbledon, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), London, Britain, May 1, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

LONDON (Reuters) – Spending on payment cards in Britain last week rose to 100% of its pre-pandemic level of February 2020, up from 95% a week earlier, data showed on Thursday.

Separate figures from the Office for National Statistics showed output-per-hour worked, a measure of productivity in the economy, inched up by 0.1% in the second quarter, leaving it 1.7% above its average level in 2019.

Economists say productivity data are likely to be distorted by the effects of the pandemic.

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