UK economy officially enters recession for first time in 11 years

12 August 2020, 08:43

By Alice Dear

@According2Al

The UK has officially been tipped into a recession following coronavirus lockdown.

The UK economy has entered recession for first time in 11 years after seeing a shrink of 20.4 per cent in three months.

A recession is defined by economists as two consecutive three-month periods where the GDP has fallen.

Between January and March, it had fallen by 2.2 per cent, and latest figures released today show it had fallen by 20.4 per cent between April and June.

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This is due to the coronavirus pandemic, which forced shops and the hospitality sector to close during lockdown.

However, as lockdown restrictions were eased in June, the UK did see an increase of 8.7 per cent.

This news comes 11 years after the 2008 - 2009 recession for the UK, which was caused by the financial crash.

Deputy national statistician at the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Jonathan Athow said: "The recession brought on by the coronavirus pandemic has led to the biggest fall in quarterly GDP on record.

"The economy began to bounce back in June with shops reopening, factories beginning to ramp up production and housebuilding continuing to recover.

"Despite this, GDP in June still remains a sixth below its level in February, before the virus struck.

"Overall, productivity saw its largest-ever fall in the second quarter.

"Hospitality was worst hit, with productivity in that industry falling by three-quarters in recent months."

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has since spoken out about the latest figures, saying: "I’ve said before that hard times were ahead, and today’s figures confirm that hard times are here.

"Hundreds of thousands of people have already lost their jobs, and sadly in the coming months many more will.

"But while there are difficult choices to be made ahead, we will get through this, and I can assure people that nobody will be left without hope or opportunity."

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