London, June 13 (RHC)-- Britain's economy shrank by a quarter over March and April as entire sectors were shuttered by the coronavirus lockdown in what looks likely to be the bottom of a "catastrophic" crash before a long and slow recovery.
Dwarfing previous downturns, the economy contracted by 20.4 percent in April from March, when it shrank by nearly six percent. It was 24.5 percent smaller than in April 2019.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the figures were no surprise as Britain's huge services sector was being hit particularly hard by social distancing measures, but he said a recovery would follow.
