UK GDP 0.3 mm in April after 0.1 in March
GDP 0.2 over 3 months to April vs 0.8 3 months to March
Scaling back of COVID19 programmes hit figures
But all sectors contract for first time since Jan 2021
Sunak says problems not unique to UK

LONDON, June 13 Reuters Britain39;s economy unexpectedly shrank in April, official figures showed on Monday, adding to fears of a sharp slowdown just three days before the Bank of England announces the scale of its latest interest rate response to the surge in inflation.

Gross domestic product contracted by 0.3 after falling by 0.1 in March, the first backtoback declines since April and March 2020, at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Economists polled by Reuters had on average expected GDP to grow by 0.1 in April from March.

GDP would have expanded by 0.1 excluding the impact of a reduction in the government39;s coronavirus testandtrace and vaccination programmes, the Office for National Statistics said.

But it was the first time since January last year that all main economic sectors had shrunk.

Over the three months to April, GDP was up by 0.2, weaker than the Reuters poll forecast of 0.4 and slowing sharply from growth of 0.8 in the three months to March.

Many firms said increases in the cost of production had affected their business, the ONS said.

Martin Beck, chief economic advisor to the EY ITEM Club, a forecasting group, said the data was a poor launchpad for the second quarter, which was at an increased risk of…