In a blow to the government’s economic standing, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the economy, as measured by gross domestic product, shrank by 0.3% in the last three months of the year, unrevised from an earlier estimate.
As he prepares for a general election, Rishi Sunak has been seeking to reassure Tory MPs that the economy is turning around, after business surveys showed a recovery in private sector activity in the first few months of the year.
A steep fall in inflation in recent months is expected to prompt the Bank of England to start cutting interest rates this summer, easing the pressure on mortgage payers and indebted businesses.
The Bank’s governor, Andrew Bailey, said last week that interest rate cuts were “in play”, adding that he was increasingly confident inflation was heading towards Threadneedle Street’s 2% target after it hit a peak of 11.1% in October 2022.
The ONS said the latest GDP estimate for the final quarter of 2023 showed all three sectors of the economy – services, production and construction – experienced falling output.
The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said the ONS figures showed that Sunak had “broken his promise to grow the economy and left Britain in recession with working people paying the price.
The original article contains 710 words, the summary contains 210 words. Saved 70%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
In a blow to the government’s economic standing, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the economy, as measured by gross domestic product, shrank by 0.3% in the last three months of the year, unrevised from an earlier estimate.
As he prepares for a general election, Rishi Sunak has been seeking to reassure Tory MPs that the economy is turning around, after business surveys showed a recovery in private sector activity in the first few months of the year.
A steep fall in inflation in recent months is expected to prompt the Bank of England to start cutting interest rates this summer, easing the pressure on mortgage payers and indebted businesses.
The Bank’s governor, Andrew Bailey, said last week that interest rate cuts were “in play”, adding that he was increasingly confident inflation was heading towards Threadneedle Street’s 2% target after it hit a peak of 11.1% in October 2022.
The ONS said the latest GDP estimate for the final quarter of 2023 showed all three sectors of the economy – services, production and construction – experienced falling output.
The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said the ONS figures showed that Sunak had “broken his promise to grow the economy and left Britain in recession with working people paying the price.
The original article contains 710 words, the summary contains 210 words. Saved 70%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!