UK output fell 0.3% during April

The UK’s economic output fell 0.3% during April, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has revealed in its latest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data.

While GDP saw small declines in March and April 2022, the ONS also reported that the economy had grown overall by 0.2% in the three months to April, but output remains less than 1% above in pre-pandemic level.

Services, production and construction all saw slight drops in output during April 2022 marking the first time that all three main sectors have contributed negatively to GDP since January last year.

A decline in output in services was the main contributor to April’s fall in GDP, and reflected a contraction in healthcare output as the government winds down the Test and Trace Covid-19 response service.

Production fell 0.6%, with the decline mainly attributed to global supply chain and inflationary pressures on manufacturers. Construction saw a 0.4% month-on-month decline, largely in response to the sharp growth recorded in March due to repairs activity following severe weather at the end of February.

The decline in output in the April GDP figures comes as a surprise to economists, as the UK economy has underperformed previous forecasts of modest month-on-month growth of 0.1%. The Bank of England in May also warned of a pending economic slowdown amid steeply rising inflation, set to hit double figures by the end of the year, when it chose to raise interest rates.