UK Enters Technical Recession After 2 Consecutive Quarters of Negative Growth

The UK has entered a technical recession, after GDP decreased for two consecutive quarters in 2023. The estimates, published by the Office of National Statistics on Thursday, showed a fall of GDP by 0.3 percent in October to December 2023. This follows a fall of 0.1 percent in the three months to September. Among the sectors driving the GDP growth down in the last quarter of 2023 were services, production, and construction output that saw declines of 0.2, 1.0, and 1.3 percent respectively. Across the whole year, though, both services and construction grew by 0.3 and 2.0 percent, respectively. Production, however, saw a fall in output of 0.3 percent. Commenting on the latest GDP figures, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said that low growth was “not a surprise,” given the high interest rates set by the Bank of England (BoE) in an attempt to bring down inflation....