The UK economy expanded little in the fourth quarter of 2022, narrowly avoiding recession.

According to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the UK economy expanded little in the fourth quarter of 2022, narrowly avoiding recession.

An earlier estimate of no growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) between October and December was updated to show a 0.1% gain.

Director of economic statistics at the ONS Darren Morgan stated: "Later data showed telecommunications, construction, and manufacturing all faring better than initially thought in the latest quarter. The economy performed a little more strongly in the latter half of last year than previously estimated”.

He continued with "Due to the government's energy bill assistance programme, households saved more money in the most recent quarter.

Meanwhile, "increasing overseas revenues by UK corporations, notably in the energy industry," helped the UK's balance of payments imbalance with the rest of the world close.

Production sector growth remained unchanged, while the services sector and the construction sector both saw increases in output of 0.1% and 1.3%, respectively.

Despite the slight improvement, GDP is now projected to be 0.6% lower than it was before to the pandemic, up from the earlier projection of 0.8% lower.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, the household savings ratio rose from 8.9% to 9.3%.

After four consecutive quarters of negative growth, real household disposable income (RHDI) rose 1.3% this quarter.

The UK is still the only G7 country whose GDP has not yet reached the level it was in the fourth quarter of 2019, before the epidemic struck, according to Gabriella Dickens of Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Moreover, she said, "GDP was still 0.6% lower in the UK than it was three years earlier, whereas it was 5.1% higher in the US, 2.9% higher in Canada, 0.8% higher in Japan, 1.2% higher in France, 1.9% higher in Italy, and just in line in Germany”.

According to some economists, the economy will likely stagnate throughout the first half of this year.

(Investing.com, Proactiveinvestors.co.uk, Reuters.com)