Over the whole of 2022, British GDP increased by 4.1% after 7.4% the previous year, announces the ONS. Daniel LEAL / AFP
The UK’s flat growth in the fourth quarter helped the country escape recession in 2022, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The risk is still there for 2023. But in 2022, contrary to forecasts, the United Kingdom finally escaped recession. London recorded zero growth in the fourth quarter, after a contraction of 0.3% in the previous quarter, which allows it to avoid the technical recession.
After growth of 0.1% in November, GDP fell sharply, by 0.5%, in December. This decline is largely due to the strikes that are shaking the country in many sectors such as health, transport, mail or education, points out the National Statistics Office (ONS).
British workers are demanding higher wages and better working conditions. These claims are favored by a still extremely low unemployment rate in the United Kingdom, at 3.7% at the end of November.
TO HAVE ALSO – United Kingdom “in recession”: both GDP and inflation are expected to fall in 2023
Over the whole of 2022, the country posted a 4.1% increase in GDP, after a 7.4% increase in 2021. The British economy had fallen in 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic , lower than other G7 economies. And the UK remains the only country in this group of major global economies that has not recovered to its pre-pandemic GDP level.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt welcomed the country’s “avoided a recession“. But he added:We are not out of the woods, particularly with regard to inflation.ยป This slowed to 10.5% in December but remains fueled by high energy and food prices, labor market tensions and supply chain difficulties, aggravated by the Brexit. Great Britain is the only developed country for which the IMF predicts a recession in 2023, at -0.6%.
TO HAVE ALSO – War in Ukraine: Zelensky visiting the United Kingdom and expected this Wednesday evening in Paris