Britain officially entered a recession after experiencing negative economic growth for two consecutive quarters in the latter part of 2023, according to official data released by the Office for National Statistics.
Gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2023, following a 0.1% contraction in the preceding three months, meeting the technical definition of a recession.
The UK is considered to be in recession if GDP falls for two successive three-month periods (quarters).
These figures are a setback for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who pledged to grow the economy as one of his key goals in January 2023.
In 2020, during the lockdown period due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Britain’s economy experienced a record contraction of 20.4% in the second quarter.
Concerns about a potential recession had been raised earlier in December 2023 when the economy unexpectedly shrank by 0.1% in the third quarter, down from a prior estimate of zero growth, according to the Office for National Statistics.