Since the reopening of the coronavirus last summer, the UK economy has grown at the fastest rate in April. Robust retail spending and the full restoration of school education have boosted performance and increased the hope that the economy will quickly rebound to pre-pandemic levels.

The volume of goods and services produced by the British economy increased by 2.3% this month, offsetting the 1.5% drop in the third lockdown in the first quarter and putting GDP growth on the path to a strong second quarter.

The GDP in February 2020 was 3.7% lower than the pre-pandemic level, which is the smallest gap since the beginning of the crisis, and it performed slightly better than the already optimistic economists had predicted.

Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician in charge of economic statistics at the National Bureau of Statistics in the United Kingdom, said: “The strong growth in retail spending, the increase in the purchase of cars and caravans, the opening of schools throughout the month and the reopening of the hotel industry all Boosted the economy in April.”

He added that the growth rate would have been stronger if it had not been for the often unstable decline in the pharmaceutical industry, the shutdown of many auto factories, and the maintenance of large-scale oil fields to bring back the overall growth rate.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said these figures are “a promising sign that our economy is beginning to recover.”

The service industry increased by 3.4% from the previous month, and the consumer-oriented service industry was reopened. However, the output of the production sector fell by 1.3%, the first decline since the beginning of the year, while the output of the construction sector declined after strong growth in March.

According to estimates by the Bank of England, with the reopening of indoor hotels and other businesses, output in May is expected to further expand, thereby increasing the GDP growth rate in the second quarter to 4.2%.

ING economist James Smith said that the end of most restrictions on June 21 may be delayed, but it may only be delayed for a few weeks until more people are fully vaccinated. This means that “from an economic point of view, the impact may not be affected. It will be huge”.

Another data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday showed that due to the impact of the coronavirus and the customs controls implemented after Brexit no longer dominate the data, the UK’s trade in April gradually increased.

The Office of National Statistics of the United Kingdom stated that imports from the EU and non-EU countries increased during the month, while exports to the EU increased slightly, but exports to non-EU countries declined.

Due to the inconsistency between the British data and the data released by the EU Statistical Agency, the overall trade statistics chart after the end of the transition period between the UK and the EU has become complicated. These data show that since the beginning of the EU, Brexit has had a greater impact on the import and export trade volume. Much. That year.

The Office of National Statistics of the United Kingdom stated that although Brexit and the coronavirus have caused uncertainty in trade patterns, “trade with non-EU countries is still higher than trade with EU countries in terms of import and export.”