City AM – Recession for the UK economy in the balance

The London business paper CITY AM says the UK slipped into a recession at the end of last year after a poor performance from the dominant service sector pushed the economy into contraction, new figures show.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the UK economy shrunk 0.1 per cent in December meaning it contracted 0.3 per cent over the fourth quarter of last year, a worse performance than economists had expected.

The figures showed that the economy performed less well than initially thought in October and November, with the ONS revising down its estimates for output in both months.