Bloomberg Talks BCG's Raoul Ruparel Talks UK Productivity
Feb 23, 2026
Raoul Ruparel, director at Boston Consulting Group’s Centre for Growth and former UK policy adviser, discusses Britain’s long productivity slump. He explores how major industries dragged down growth. He compares UK sectors to global peers. He examines weakening finance productivity, sectors that could revive growth, and risks and distribution challenges of AI adoption.
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Tariff Threat Adds Short-Term Uncertainty
- New proposed US tariffs add uncertainty but details and duration remain unclear for UK exposure.
- Ruptarel notes it may affect countries with existing US deals and that governments will seek behind-the-scenes negotiations.
Sectoral Split Explains UK Productivity Puzzle
- The UK lags peers in several large sectors, not uniformly across the economy.
- Financial services and manufacturing have fallen back while information and comms are growing but still behind the US frontier.
Post-Crisis Shift Left Financial Services Stagnant
- UK financial services productivity stagnated for about 15 years after the financial crisis despite overall sector strength.
- Shifts toward asset management, payments and auxiliary services lowered measured productivity versus pre-crisis banking dominance.