UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has launched a plan for the country's economic recovery after the COVID-19 crisis.

He pitched his plan to the north of England, choosing to launch it in the town of Dudley in the Midlands.

In brief, the plan is to "build, build, build." The government wants to fast-track infrastructure projects including new schools, hospitals, homes, road and rail networks to kick-start economic development in the north, an area long regarded as left behind by successive governments in Westminster.

Johnson said: "If we deliver this plan together then we will build our way back to health."

The government announced more than $6 billion in infrastructure projects, but many of these were already pledged in its election manifesto.

Johnson says the government will accelerate the delivery of these projects by removing laborious red tape and planning permissions.

Sitting on a digger at a construction site, the prime minister joked: "When you're in a hole this big the only option is to keep digging."

It is digging, but not as much as you may think.

The spending amounts to 0.2 percent of last year's GDP. But even at that rate, some economists are concerned the country can't afford it.

Brendan Brown is a founding partner of Macro Hedge Advisors and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute think tank.

He said the saving rate in the UK increased during spring, but is expected to come down sharply. According to Brown, the country will be left with a 10 percent budget deficit.

"It is printing money and that's what scares the foreign exchange markets," he explained.

Brown also points out that almost every item in the government's plan is focused on construction. Although that is good for the building industry, he says, it's not necessarily the best way forward for the British economy.

During last year's general election, many former Labour seats in the north swung to the Conservatives for the first time ever as voters in the opposition's heartland turned against their party.

"Those constituencies have huge expectations that the Conservatives and Boris Johnson will deliver on their economic promises," said Rachel Anderson, assistant director of policy at The North East Chamber of Commerce.

Historically, England's northern regions have felt neglected by governments in London. They have also suffered from a decade of severe funding cuts, so-called "economic austerity" that began under the Conservatives during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.

However, Boris Johnson says there will be no more austerity.

But with the UK's GDP falling 20.4 percent in April and the country being on track to be the worse performer in the G7, many businesses would argue that with COVID-19 the days of austerity are already here.

Check out The Pandemic Playbook, CGTN Europe's major investigation into the lessons learned from COVID-19.