LONDON, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Britain's monthly real gross domestic product (GDP) fell 0.1 percent in May 2025, mainly dragged down by a notable output downturn in the manufacturing sector, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Friday.
Of the three main sectors of the economy, production output decreased 0.9 percent, construction output went down 0.6 percent, and services output rose 0.1 percent, according to the office.
Manufacturing output declined 1 percent in May, following a 0.7-percent fall in April, which was the main contributor to the overall decrease in production output.
"May's fall in production was driven by oil and gas contraction, car manufacturing, and the often erratic pharmaceutical industry," said Liz McKeown, director of economic statistics at the ONS.
The country's economy contracted for the second month in a row after declining 0.3 percent in April. The figure was up 0.4 percent in March, according to the data.
The GDP contraction in May following April's decline indicates that the British economic outlook remains fragile, said Hailey Low, associate economist at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. "Failure to implement the planned spending cuts has further eroded the British fiscal space and its ability to respond to future shocks. Combined with depressed hiring intentions and strained public finances, growth prospects remain muted in the medium term," he said.
"With fiscal space increasingly constrained, the Chancellor of the Exchequer faces hard trade-offs this autumn budget, having to raise taxes or cut spending to meet her self-imposed rules," Low added. ■