GDP Monthly Estimate: April 2023

UK GDP is estimated to have risen 0.2% in April

Monthly GDP index, January 2007 until April 2023, 2019 = 100. Source: ONS

GDP rose by an estimated 0.2% in April 2023, following a fall of 0.3% in March 2023.
GDP grew by 0.1% in the three months to April 2023, lifting the UK economy marginally above pre-pandemic levels.
Services and consumer-facing services grew by 0.3% and 1.0% respectively in April. Production output decreased by 0.3%, while the construction sector fell by 0.6%.

Services (0.3%)

Services grew by 0.3% in April 2023, following a fall of 0.5% in March 2023. Growth was driven by Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (3.9%), and Information and communication (1.3%).
The largest negative contributor was human health and social work activities, which fell by 0.9%.
Output in consumer-facing services grew by 1.0% in April 2023, following a fall of 0.8% in March 2023. Consumer-facing services grew by 0.1% in the three months to April 2023.
The largest positive contributor was food and beverage service activities, which grew by 2.0%. This was followed by wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, which grew by 3.9%.
Consumer-facing services were 8.7% below their pre-pandemic levels (Feb 2020) in January 2023, while all other services were 2.0% above.
Overall, the services fell by 0.1% the three months to April 2023 compared with the three months to January 2023 with negative growth seen in 8 of the 14 sub-sectors.

Production (-0.3%)

Production output fell by 0.3% in April 2023, after growth of 0.7% in March 2023. Manufacturing was the largest negative contributor, falling by 0.3% in the month.
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply was the only positive contributor to production, growing by 0.6%.
Overall, production increased by 0.2% in the three months to April 2023, compared with the three months to January 2023, driven primarily by a 0.7% increase in manufacturing.

Construction (-0.6%)

Construction output fell 0.6% in April 2023 following two months of consecutive growth. This was driven by a 1.0% decrease in new work, which was slightly offset by an increase in repair and maintenance (0.1%).

GDP Sector Breakdown

Source: ONS