The United Kingdom (UK) suffered an economic retraction of 20% in the second quarter of the year as a result of its coronavirus lockdown.
Data released yesterday showed that on a quarter-to-quarter basis, the British economy had shrunk by 20.4%. No other major European economy has shrunk by that much over the period.
The fall was also the biggest quarterly decline on record, according to Jonathan Athow, the deputy national statistician at the Office of National Statistics.
The economy bounced back in June, as the various restrictions to combat the Covid-19 pandemic were lifted. In June, on a month-to-month basis, the economy grew by 8.7%, higher than most economists expected.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak was quoted as saying: ‘Today’s figures confirm that hard times are here . . . But while there are difficult choices to be made ahead, we will get through this.’
[Picture: Aron Van de Pol on Unsplash]