UK sees record recession on virus fallout

GDP contracts by 20.4% in period from April to June

LONDON:

Britain’s economy shrank by one-fifth in the second quarter, more than any European neighbour, as the country’s coronavirus lockdown slammed businesses and plunged the country into its deepest recession on record, official data showed on Wednesday.

“It is clear that the UK is in the largest recession on record,” the Office for National Statistics said after gross domestic product contracted by 20.4% in the period from April to June.

A recession is defined as two consecutive quarterly contractions and the British economy already shrank by 2.2% in the first three months of this year. It is Britain’s first recession since 2009 and the performance is the worst of the so-called Group of Seven richest countries in the world over the same period.

By comparison, France’s economy contracted by 13.9% in the second quarter, Canada by 12%, Germany 10.1%, the United States 9.5% and Japan 7.6%. The statisticians attributed Britain’s dire second quarter to a 20% drop in output in April - “the biggest monthly fall on record reflecting widespread...declines in output across the services, production, and construction industries”.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 13^th, 2020.

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