2023.12.2207:00:00UTC+00UK Economy Shrinks In Q3

The UK economy contracted in the third quarter due to the fall in the service sector, revised data from the Office for National Statistics showed on Friday.

Gross domestic product shrank 0.1 percent sequentially in the third quarter, which was revised down from the flat growth estimated initially.

The ONS also revised the second quarter GDP to show no growth from a previously estimated increase of 0.2 percent.

In output terms, data showed that there was a 0.2 percent drop in the services sector, which offset a 0.4 percent rise in construction output and a 0.1 percent gain in the production sector.

Another data from the ONS showed that the current account deficit narrowed to GBP 17.18 billion in the third quarter from GBP 23.96 billion in the second quarter.

Retail sales advanced 1.3 percent on month in November following a revised nil growth in October, the ONS reported. Excluding auto fuel, retail sales growth accelerated to 1.3 percent from 0.2 percent.

Driven by earlier Black Friday sales and wider discounting, non-food store sales advanced 2.3 percent. Food store sales moved up 0.8 percent. Automotive fuel sales gained 0.6 percent as fuel prices fell. The contribution of non-store retailing rounded to zero, data showed.

On a yearly basis, retail sales posted a marginal growth of 0.1 percent, reversing a 2.5 percent decrease in October. Excluding auto fuel, retail sales gained 0.3 percent, in contrast to the 2.1 percent drop a month ago.