Economy Update

It seems that the UK is now starting to “bounce-back”, with monthly gross domestic product (GDP) growing by 0.8% between April and May 2021 but remaining 3.1% below its level in February 2020, which was the most recent month not affected by the Pandemic. The rise in GDP was led by a month-on-month rise of 0.9% in services, although this sector remained 3.4% below its February 2020 level.

The accommodation and food service activities sector contributed 0.87 percentage points to the month-on-month growth in services, with output growing by 37.1% from April; this was driven by growth in food and beverage service activities, which grew by 34.0%, as coronavirus restrictions were eased.

Monthly production grew by 0.8% between April and May 2021 leaving it 2.6% below its February 2020 level; the monthly growth was led by the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply sector, as cold weather and low wind speeds contributed to high demand for gas production in May.

Monthly construction declined by 0.8% between April and May 2021 leaving it 0.3% above its February 2020 level.

As restrictions ease further we expect this growth to continue.