The UK economy contracted more than it has in 65 years, dropping almost 20% in the second quarter.

• The UK economy recorded a record contraction in the second quarter of the year, with gross domestic product plummeting 19.8% between April and June.
• The latest figures show that the UK’s quarterly decline was less severe than previous estimates from the Office for National Statistics.
• It’s the biggest decline since quarterly records began in 1955 and reflects the harsh impact of ongoing containment policies that were put in place to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
• “It is clear that the UK is in the biggest recession on record,” the ONS said.
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The UK economy posted its biggest quarterly decline on record between April and June this year, officially entering recession, but a final reading of total activity on Wednesday showed the decline was less severe than originally thought.

Gross domestic product, widely used to measure a country’s output, fell 19.8% in the second quarter, the biggest drop on record, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

The figure is slightly lower than the previous second-quarter estimate of a 20.4% drop. After posting two successive quarterly declines, the UK officially met the technical definition of a recession.

“It is clear that the UK is in the biggest recession on record,” the ONS said.

The historic downturn in the economy is the biggest drop since quarterly records began in 1955, and reflects the containment policies put in place against the COVID-19 pandemic, the ONS said.

First quarter GDP figures also showed a steeper contraction of 2.5%, revised from a previous estimate of a 2.2% drop.

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Britain has suffered one of the worst downturns in economic activity in Europe this year. It has also recorded more deaths from COVID-19 than any other European country, with more than 41,000 deaths.

In three months the UK is also fully exiting the European Union and, despite the fact that it has been more than four years since the vote to leave in June 2016, the government of Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson has yet to reach a agreement with the bloc on trade.

“Most of the pain from the fall in GDP in the second quarter had been borne by the government rather than households and businesses,” said Ruth Gregory, senior UK economist at Capital Economics. “But with the recovery already stabilizing, fiscal support waning, and the full scale of the consequences of unemployment yet to be felt, that will change in the second half of 2020.”

The British pound sterling fell 0.3% against the dollar on Wednesday.

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