The Office for National Statistics said economic activity in UK dropped by 20.4 per cent in April - the largest drop in a single month since records began in 1997. The fall massively outstrips the then-record 5.8 per cent drop in March gross domestic product (GDP) that the ONS reported last month.
It means that GDP fell by 10.4 per cent in the three months to April and sets the UK on course for one of its worst quarters in history.
Speaking following the release of the figures, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was "not surprised" the UK had been "badly hit" by the lockdown. He says the country will 'bounce back' from lockdown economy hit by Covid-19.
The prime minister added: "One of the things the UK has got right is the way we've tried to handle the situation with the furlough scheme and many other schemes we've put in place. "What I want to do now is work slowly to get the economy back on its feet... I think slowly confidence will return and you will see a bounce back."
He reiterated his general election promise to "level up" the country, in education, services and transport infrastructure, and more plans would be announced in the coming weeks. "We're going to be doubling-down on our agenda of uniting and leveling up. Infrastructure, technology, investment in our future, building the platform that business needs for growth," he said.
Large parts of the British economy were placed on ice on March 23 when Johnson told people they must stay inside and only leave the house when absolutely necessary. The measures were announced to slow the spread of Covid-19.
The figures are worse than what some experts predicted. A consensus compiled by Pantheon Macroeconomics suggested there would be a 18.7 per cent drop in GDP. May’s GDP figures are also likely to be hard hit, before things start to ease again in June as the economy slowly reopens.
