India, June 12 -- The UK economy contracted at the fastest pace in 18 months in April as the end of stamp duty holiday, tax hike on businesses and higher US trade tariffs damped the positive momentum seen at the start of the year.
Real gross domestic product declined 0.3 percent month-on-month in April, following a growth of 0.2 percent in March, the Office for National Statistics reported Thursday. This was the biggest fall since October 2023. GDP was expected to drop marginally by 0.1 percent. The production-side of GDP showed that services output posted its first fall since last October. Output contracted 0.4 percent, offsetting the 0.4 percent rise in March.
Industrial production decreased 0.6 percent, which was slightly slower than a...