3 Months Overcame 10 Years: UK Economy Shrinks at Fastest Pace in A Decade 

By Staff, Agencies 

Official British data revealed that the UK economy contracted at its fastest pace since the financial crisis during the first quarter of 2020.

With the country placed into lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, gross domestic product shrank by 2 per cent between January and March, the Office for National Statistics has said.

March alone saw a record 5.8 per cent drop, which drove much of the quarter’s contraction, the ONS added.

The latest figures show the first direct effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the UK economy after the country was brought to a standstill.

But with the lockdown only coming into place on 23 March, the second quarter will highlight the full extent of the economic fallout.

Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician for economic statistics at the Office for National Statistics [ONS], said: “With the arrival of the pandemic, nearly every aspect of the economy was hit in March, dragging growth to a record monthly fall.”

The dominant services sector – which accounts for around 80 per cent of the UK’s GDP – suffered a record decline, tumbling by 1.9 per cent in the first quarter. There were also significant contractions in production [2.1 per cent] and construction [2.6 per cent].

Last week, the Bank of England said Britain’s economy could be heading for its sharpest annual slump in GDP in more than 300 years, saying a 14 per cent fall was possible, followed potentially by a 15 per cent rise in 2021.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps said the economy had been expected to take a hit and warned there was “more to come”.

“I think everyone will have expected there to be something of a hit to the economy. People have been staying at home and there will be more to come,” he told Sky News on Wednesday morning.