'Reason for optimism' as March bounce holds UK's Q1 GDP decline at 1.5%

UK GDP rises by 2.1% in March amid partial reopening

UK GDP rose by 2.1% in March as schools and some parts of the economy reopened throughout the month, marking the fastest monthly growth since August 2020, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The March gain helped stem the GDP contraction for the first quarter of the year at 1.5%, with UK GDP now 8.7% below where it was before the pandemic in December 2019. Compared with the end of Q1 2020, when the initial economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic began to take effect, the UK economy has contracted by 6.1%. February GDP growth has now been revised up from 0.4% to 0.7%, while the Bank of England now predicts the economy will grow 7.25% this year. The UK's Q1 decline compares to growth of 1.6% and 0.4% in the US and France respectively, according to the ONS. However, G...