UK enters recession

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has said that a recovery will take longer than first thought
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has said that a recovery will take longer than first thought
TOLGA AKMEN

The economy will officially enter recession this week after tumbling by a record 20% in the second quarter.

The contraction follows the 2.2% fall in GDP in the first three months and will mean the UK meets the definition of recession by recording two successive quarters of decline. However, economists will look at data for the last month of the quarter, June, to gauge the speed of the upturn as the lockdown restrictions eased.

May’s GDP disappointed economists as it rose by only 1.8%. The consensus is for an 8% rise in June.

Paul Dales, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said that while the data would show the UK had met the definition of recession, the economy had stopped contracting in May.

“In reality,