GDP plummeted by 20.4 PER CENT in April amid coronavirus chaos

The UK economy shrank by an astonishing 20.4 per cent in April – the biggest fall ever – as coronavirus wreaked havoc.

GDP plummeted by more than a fifth in the first month of lockdown, following a 5.8 per cent slump in March.

It has now contracted by 25 per cent since February – with the country facing the worst recession in 300 years, when the Great Frost laid waste to Europe.

The eye-watering reduction shows the scale of the devastation being inflicted on UK plc by lockdown.

The news will heap pressure on Boris Johnson to find a way to ease the draconian curbs.  

ONS spokesman Jonathan Athow said the drop was likely to represent the worst of the impact, but there are warnings that many jobs will not come back quickly and the economy could take years to recover.

‘April’s fall in GDP is the biggest the UK has ever seen, more than three times larger than last month and almost ten times larger than the steepest pre-covid-19 fall. In April the economy was around 25 per cent smaller than in February,’ Mr Athow said.

‘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.’