Bloomberg: UK faces tough choice over fuel prices

MOSCOW, 3 Sep — PRIME. Six in 10 UK businesses are on the brink of shutting down as energy prices explode, Bloomberg reported, citing a report by industry group Make UK.

The study emphasizes that “the current crisis is presenting producers with a stark choice between cutting production or shutting it down completely if help doesn’t arrive soon.”

The material notes that over the past year, for every second enterprise, electricity bills have more than doubled. At the same time, 13% of factories in Britain reduced the working day or moved it to less busy hours for the energy industry, and 7% suspended production for longer periods.

Western countries, including the UK, are faced with rising energy prices and a surge in inflation due to the imposition of sanctions against Moscow and the policy of abandoning Russian fuel. Due to the rise in the price of fuel, primarily gas, the industry in the West has largely lost its competitive advantages, which has also affected other sectors of the economy. Also, the United States and European countries are facing record inflation in decades.