UK GDP slumps almost 20% in record contraction

The UK economy suffered a record slump in the second quarter of this year as it felt the full force of Covid-19 lockdown measures which constrained spending, official data revealed on Wednesday.

Gross domestic product contracted by 19.8% in the three months to June compared with the first quarter, marginally less than an initial estimate of 20.4% estimate but still the biggest drop since records started in 1955, the Office for National Statistics said.

The economy had already shrunk by 2.5% in the three months to March as the pandemic started to spread and Britain entered lockdown in late March.

Britons saved 29.1% of their income in the second quarter, another record, and up from 9.6% in the first quarter as shops and restaurants were shuttered and workers entered a government-backed furlough scheme to support wages.

Year-on-year second quarter GDP is down 21.5%, the ONS said.