Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was"not surprised" at the statistics, pointing out the UK was heavily dependent on services, which relied"so much on human contact", but he predicted the UK economy would"bounce back" as the rules are gradually lifted.
However, speaking to Sky News, Peter Dixon, senior economist at Commerzbank, said:"If you look at where the economy is now, obviously we have had a major falling off the cliff and the question now is do we go further down or rebound slightly."Data currently indicated the recovery would be a"slow haul" he said and added:"At the moment I think it is going to be a fairly grim economic summer."It's a bit like a car crash.
"The concern is that the same will happen to the UK and indeed other economies around the world, particularly with regard to the labour market as a number of industries just can't back on their feet. "With the coronavirus job retention scheme likely to be phased out during the course of this year, then we will see just how resilient the economy is."