UK avoids recession as economy stronger than first thought at end of 2022
Britain’s economy grew more than initially thought in late 2022 as a boost from builders, manufacturing and the telecoms sector helped the country avoid a recession.
Despite fears that a combination of high inflation, strikes and financial turmoil would lead to falling output, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed gross domestic product rose by 0.1% in the final three months of last year.
The ONS had previously estimated that growth was flat in the fourth quarter but the three main sectors of the economy – services, production and construction – all performed more strongly than previously thought.
A decline in output in the third quarter of 2022 – when activity was affected by an extra bank holiday after the death of Queen Elizabeth II – was revised up to -0.1% compared with a previous -0.2%. An economy is technically deemed to be in recession if it contracts for two successive quarters.
Government help with energy bills underpinned consumer spending in the fourth quarter but business investment – which had previously been estimated to have grown by almost 5% – fell slightly.
Despite the revisions, ONS data shows the economy has been broadly flat since early 2022, growing by 0.1% in each of the second and fourth quarters and contracting by 0.1% in the third quarter. The economy remains smaller than it was in late 2019 before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, although by 0.6% rather than the 0.8% previously estimated.
Darren Morgan, an ONS director of economic statistics, said: “The economy performed a little more strongly in the latter half of last year than previously estimated, with later data showing telecommunications, construction and manufacturing all faring better than initially thought in the
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