UK economy contracts by one-fifth in a single month
Friday 12th June 2020
In April 2020 the UK economy contracted by a staggering 20.4% compared to March as Britain endured an entire month of lockdown. This follows the 5.8% fall recorded in March. Compared to April 2019, total output is almost a quarter lower (-24.5%).
Source: Office for National Statistics
The fall in output during April was broad-based across most UK industries. However, the industries most significantly affected were those that rely on congregations of people, which are now of course face severe restrictions. Accommodation and food service output was down over 90% (-91.7%) compared to the same month last year. Entertainment and recreation activities are almost down a half on last year (-45.5%).
The only sector of the economy where output is higher than last year is the largely government-focussed Public administration and defence where output in April was 1.4% higher.
Source: Office for National Statistics
The contribution of each industry to total output change reflects both the size of output change in that industry and its relative size or weight in the economy. Of the total 24.5% fall in GDP in the last year, the largest negative contributions were from the wholesale and retail industry (-3.65 percentage points), manufacturing (-2.73 percentage points), construction (-2.72 percentage points), accommodation and food services (-2.59 percentage points) and education (-2.45 percentage points.
Source: Office for National Statistics
Little improvement in output levels are expected in the May 2020 numbers due to continuing lockdown restrictions.