Final figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) confirm that the UK's economy shrank in the last quarter, as previously indicated. The gross domestic product (GDP) decline was 0.3%, following a 0.1% dip in the previous quarter, confirming a technical recession towards the end of 2023. The overall growth for that year was a meagre 0.1%, a stark contrast to the 4.3% growth seen in 2022.
Ignoring the coronavirus impacted year of 2020, this represented the weakest year-on-year change in real GDP since the financial crisis of 2009, according to the ONS. When compared to the same quarter in the previous year, the real GDP fell by 0.2% in the fourth quarter.
The data reveals a decrease in the volume of net trade, gross capital formation, and household consumption in the last quarter of 2023, which was partially balanced out by a rise in government spending. Household expenditure slipped by 0.1% in sequence, while government spending rose by 0.1%.
Gross fixed capital formation saw a revised increase of 0.9%, with business investment contributing a 1.4% increase. The trade deficit for goods and services came to 1.1% of GDP in the same quarter, showing an upward revision from the initially estimated deficit of 1.6%.
