Hard times are here, says Sunak as UK's economic output shrinks 20% in second quarter

London [UK], August 12 (ANI): Amid the raging coronavirus pandemic, United Kingdom's economic output shrank by 20.4 per cent in the second quarter of 2020.
According to a CNN report, this is the worst quarterly slump on record, pushing the country into the deepest recession of any major global economy.
The Coronavirus has adversely affected the economy globally with countries putting severe restrictions in order to contain the spread of the deadly virus.
This crash in GDP in the April-June period is the worst since quarterly records began in 1955 and follows a 2.2 per cent contraction in the first quarter, reported CNN.
"Today's figures confirm that hard times are here," UK finance minister Rishi Sunak was quoted as saying in a statement.
"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," he added.
As per the data provided by the Office for National Statistics, The UK's economic output fell by a cumulative 22.1 per cent in the last six months of 2020, in comparision to the end of 2019.
This is regarded as a worse outcome than Germany, France and Italy and double the 10.6 per cent fall recorded in the US. "The larger contraction primarily reflects how lockdown measures have been in place for a larger part of this period in the UK," the ONS added.
As per CNN, the UK imposed a lockdown two weeks after Italy and 10 days after Spain and a week after France. In June lockdown restrictions were eased that included the reopening of nonessential shops.
The ONS further reported that the GDP had increased to 8.7 per cent in the previous month.
The UK economy -- due to the pandemic -- shed close to 7,30,000 jobs in March, according to CNN.
As per the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 data, the United Kingdom has a total of 313,402 coronavirus cases and 46,611 fatalities, as of Wednesday. (ANI)