British economy narrowly avoided recession last year

The UK’s economy was flat in the last quarter of 2022 according to update released by the Office for National Statistics, meaning the country narrowly avoided falling into recession last year.

It follows a 0.3 per cent contraction recorded in the third quarter of last year, meaning Britain has edged clear of the definition of a recession – which is two consecutive quarters of contraction in a row.

Newly released figures show the economy saw zero growth between October and December but in December alone it declined by 0.5 per cent, partly due to strikes across health, trains and Royal Mail.

The Bank of England still forecasts that the UK will go into recession this year, but now thinks the downturn will be shorter and less severe than previously feared.

The ONS says that in output terms, Britain’s services sector slowed to flat output on the quarter, driven by falls in the education, and transport and storage sub-sectors.

And elsewhere, growth of 0.3 per cent in construction was offset by a 0.2 per cent fall in the production sector in the fourth quarter of 2022.