The UK economy suffered its biggest slump on record between April and June as coronavirus lockdown measures pushed the country officially into recession, according to the BBC.
The economy shrank 20.4% compared with the first three months of the year.
Household spending plunged as shops were ordered to close, while factory and construction output also fell.
This pushed the UK into its first technical recession – defined as two straight quarters of economic decline – since 2009.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the economy bounced back in June as government restrictions on movement started to ease.
Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician for economic statistics, said: “Despite this, gross domestic product (GDP) in June still remains a sixth below its level in February, before the virus struck.”
The ONS said the collapse in output was driven by the closure of shops, hotels, restaurants, schools and car repair shops.
The services sector, which powers four-fifths of the economy, suffered the biggest quarterly decline on record.
The economic decline was concentrated in April, at the height of lockdown.
On a month-on-month basis, the economy grew by 8.7% in June, building on growth in May.
Clothes stores, bookshops and other non-essential retailers opened their doors in England on 15 June, while construction work jumped after large declines in the previous two months.
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the economic slump would lead to more job losses in the coming months.
Official jobs figures showed the number of people in work fell by 220,000 between April and June.
The drop in the number of people employed was the largest quarterly decrease since May to July 2009, the depths of the financial crisis.
He said: “Hundreds of thousands of people have already lost their jobs, and sadly in the coming months many more will.
While more recent data suggest the recovery is gaining traction, the Bank of England doesn’t expect the economy to get back to its pre-pandemic size until the end of next year.
The UK’s slump is also one of the biggest among advanced economies, according to preliminary estimates.
The economy is more than a fifth smaller than it was at the end of last year. This fall is not as bad as the 22.7% decline in Spain but around twice the size of declines in Germany and the US.
The economy is now growing again, but not all the lights that were dimmed in order to protect public health in the spring, will be turned back on.
Image source: Business Live
