The latest economic statistics for the United Kingdom were published Friday morning, and they make grim reading.
The UK suffered a 20.4% collapse in its gross domestic product (GDP) in April due to the containment measures used to halt the coronavirus spread in the country, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced on Friday
It’s the largest drop ever recorded, and comes after a 5.8% drop in GDP in March.
Lockdown measures “dramatically reduced economic activity”, the ONS stated, adding that the most significant one was “the introduction of restrictions in movement across the UK”, which began on 23 March.
Jonathan Athow, Deputy National Statistician for Economic Statistics for the agency, said that April’s GDP fall is “almost ten times larger than the steepest pre-COVID-19 fall”.
“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,” he added.
The UK has been Europe’s worst-hit country, accounting for over 41,000 deaths and nearly 293,000 COVID-19 cases, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.