UK economy shrinks for second month running

The UK economy shrank for the second consecutive month in April, new data shows.

Gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.3 percent in April following a decline of 0.1 percent in March, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

That drop was bigger than expected. The average response from economists polled by Reuters was that GDP would grow by 0.1 percent in April from March.

The biggest contributor to April’s fall was the services sector, which was down 0.3 percent and was linked to the winding down of the UK’s Covid-19 Test and Trace programme.

ONS said if the impact of Test and Trace was stripped out, the economy would have grown by 0.1 percent in April.

The news comes as The Bank of England (BoE) is set to announce its latest decision on interest rates on Thursday. BoE is widely expected to hike rates for the fifth time in a row.