Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician at the ONS, said: “Our more detailed picture of the economy in the first quarter showed GDP shrank a little more than first estimated.
“Information from government showed health activities declined more than we previously showed.
“All main sectors of the economy shrank significantly in March as the effects of the pandemic hit.”
The first-quarter contraction is now the joint biggest drop since the July-to-September period in 1979.
Mr Athow said: “The sharp fall in consumer spending at the end of March led to a notable increase in households’ savings.”
When compared with the same three-month period a year ago, the economy shrank by 1.7%, worse than the previous estimate of a 1.6% contraction.
That contraction was three times greater than the decline seen during the whole of the 2008 to 2009 economic downturn.
Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the latest figures could be summed up in one line: “The biggest contraction for 40 years, even though Q1 contained just nine lockdown days.”
The data “was just the prelude” to the worse to come, he added.
Later on Tuesday, Boris Johnson is set to make a keynote speech on the economy with a promise to “build back better”.
Speaking in the West Midlands, the prime minister will say he wants to use the coronavirus crisis “to tackle this country’s great unresolved challenges”.
As part of what he is expected to call a “new deal”, Mr Johnson will set out plans to accelerate £5bn of spending on infrastructure projects.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the country’s merchandise trade deficit narrowed to $1.3 billion in September as imports fell more than exports.
The result compared with a revised deficit of $1.5 billion for August. The initial estimate for August released last month had shown a deficit of $1.1 billion.
Statistics Canada says the results for September came as total exports edged down 0.1 per cent to $63.9 billion.
Exports of metal and non-metallic mineral products fell 5.4 per cent as exports of unwrought gold, silver, and platinum group metals, and their alloys, decreased 15.4 per cent. Exports of energy products dropped 2.6 per cent as lower prices weighed on crude oil exports.
Meanwhile, imports for September fell 0.4 per cent to $65.1 billion as imports of metal and non-metallic mineral products dropped 12.7 per cent.
In volume terms, total exports rose 1.4 per cent in September while total imports were essentially unchanged in September.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
