The U.K.’s GDP fell 20.4 percent in April, its worst-ever monthly fall, after the country went into lockdown in response to the coronavirus crisis.
The record April fall followed a 5.8 percent contraction in March, according to data released by the Office of National Statistics Friday.
The retail, travel, hospitality, manufacturing and construction industries all experienced significant contractions, with the ONS reporting “record falls” in April “across all sectors.”
“April’s fall in GDP is the biggest the U.K. has ever seen, more than three times larger than last month and almost ten times larger than the steepest pre-COVID-19 fall,” said Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician for economic statistics. “Virtually all areas of the economy were hit, with pubs, education, health and car sales all giving the biggest contributions to this historic fall.”
The figures increase the pressure on the U.K. government, already under fire for its handling of the pandemic. Earlier this week, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned that the U.K., along with Spain, France and Italy, would face the world’s roughest economic hits this year from the coronavirus.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson requested a voluntary end to “nonessential” contact with others on March 16, before implementing mandatory lockdown measures on March 23.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak acknowledged the coronavirus crisis is having “a severe impact on our economy.”
“The lifelines we’ve provided with our furlough scheme, grants, loans and tax cuts have protected thousands of businesses and millions of jobs – giving us the best chance of recovering quickly as the economy reopens,” he said after the data was released. “We’ve set out our plan to gradually and safely reopen the economy.”
Labour’s Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds said the new numbers made it imperative the government develops an effective tracking system for the disease.
“These figures are deeply worrying,” Dodds said. The government must “take the action that is needed now to prevent an even deeper recession. That means above all getting a grip on test, track and isolate, so that people can safely return to work and consumers can have confidence in entering businesses.”
Dodds also criticized the Treasury’s “one-size-fits-all” approach to providing economic aid, calling for it to be reformed to avoid a higher increase in unemployment.
Around 8.9 million workers had been placed on furlough and an additional 2.6 million self-employed people had applied for help through a separate scheme as of June 8.