LONDON, Feb 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — People spending less, doctors’ strikes and a fall in school attendance dragged the UK into recession at the end of last year, official figures show.
The economy shrunk by a larger than expected 0.3% between October and December, after it had already contracted between July and September.
The UK is in recession if it fails to grow for two successive quarters.
The figures raise questions over whether Rishi Sunak has met his pledge made last January to grow the economy.
The government has never publicly said what measure should be used to assess if it had met Sunak’s pledge to “grow the economy”, despite repeated requests.
Sunak’s promise has not been fulfilled because the UK economy shrank by 0.1% in July to September.
For the whole of 2023, the UK economy grew by 0.1%.
The UK is not alone in facing economic pressure. The European Union narrowly avoided recession in the second half of 2023 while Japan confirmed its economy had contracted for a second quarter.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said there were a number of areas where economy faltered at the end of the year. Shoppers spent less in December after taking advantage of Black Friday sales in November.
The health sector was affected by strike action by junior doctors while attendance levels at schools dropped by 1%.
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a key measure of all the economic activity of companies, the government, the public sector and individuals in a country.
Figures earlier this week showed wage growth had slowed, but was still outpacing price rises. Meanwhile, inflation – the rate at which prices rise – was lower than expected in January with monthly food prices falling for the first time in over two years. However, it is still double the Bank of England’s 2% target.
Official figures from the ONS showed that during the final three months of last year, there was a slowdown in all the main sectors it measures to determine the health of the UK economy, including construction and manufacturing.
The Bank of England had been lifting interest rates to put the brakes on inflation but has kept them at 5.25% since August last year. — NNN-AGENCIES
