Shoppers wearing protective face masks walk in the rain on Oxford Street in London on June 18, 2020, as some nonessential retailers reopen after their coronavirus closure.
Tolga Akmen / AFP / Getty Images
The UK economy grew less than expected in May, as the country gradually eased the blockade measures.
Official figures on Tuesday revealed that GDP expanded 1.8% in May for the month. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a monthly rebound of 5.5%.
“Despite this, the level of production did not recover from the record declines seen in March and April 2020 and decreased by 24.5% compared to February 2020, before the full impact of the coronavirus,” said the National Statistics Office in its statement. .
The reading comes after a monthly contraction of 20.4% in April, the strongest on record in the country, during the height of its widespread coronavirus restriction measures that plagued economic activity.
During the three months to the end of May, GDP contracted 19.1%. Throughout the 2008 recession, GDP fell by no more than 2.1% in a single quarter, the ONS noted.
“Housing manufacturing and construction showed signs of recovery as some companies saw staff return to work,” said Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician for economic statistics.
“Despite this, the economy was still a quarter smaller in May than in February, before the effects of the pandemic arrived,” he added.
He noted that while the retail sector posted record online sales in May, many other areas of the economy remained “stagnant” and saw further decline as the blockade measures continued.
This is breaking news and will be updated shortly.
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