UK economy shrinks record 20.4% in April due to lockdown

The UK’s economy shrank by 20.4% in April – the largest monthly contraction on record – as the full impact of lockdown was felt.

The monthly decline was outlined in figures reported by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The fall is three times greater than the decline seen during the whole of the 2008 to 2009 economic downturn.

The ONS also published figures for the three months from February to April, which showed a decline of 10.4%.

“April’s fall in GDP is the biggest the UK has ever seen, more than three times larger than last month and almost 10 times larger than the steepest pre-Covid-19 fall,” said Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician for economic statistics at the ONS,

“In April, the economy was around 25% smaller than in February.

“Virtually all areas of the economy were hit, with pubs, education, health and car sales all giving the biggest contributions to this historic fall.

“Manufacturing and construction also saw significant falls, with manufacture of cars and housebuilding particularly badly affected.

“The UK’s trade with the rest of the world was also badly affected by the pandemic, with large falls in both the import and export of cars, fuels, works of art and clothing.”