Britain's economy surprisingly expanded in November thanks to a boost from World Cup drinkers and early Christmas shoppers, lowering the likelihood that the country 

Britain's economy surprisingly expanded in November thanks to a boost from World Cup drinkers and early Christmas shoppers, lowering the likelihood that the country has already entered a recession. Despite the skyrocketing cost of living, the services sector continued to develop, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which led to a 0.1% gain. The economy was expected to contract by 0.3%, according to analysts.

The ONS experts said the technology industry and a strong performance by pubs and bars during a boost from the World Cup in Qatar, which began on 20 November, were responsible for the tiny increase.

Nevertheless, it indicated a slowing in growth after October's GDP growth of 0.5%.

Due to the weak growth, Britain would need to have had a significant decline in output of roughly 0.5% in December in order to meet the criteria for a European recession, which is two consecutive quarters of declining GDP. “With a fair wind, the 

 may now avoid recession, though December was marked by widespread strikes and activity survey readings were weak,” HSBC economist Liz Martins said.

It occurs at a time when inflation is predicted to continue to decline through 2023, falling to 10.7% in November from a 41-year high of 11.1 percent the previous month. The overall picture is "usually reassuring," according to Julian Jessop, an economist, and fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs. Even though 2023 has only been going for two weeks, the pessimistic consensus that the UK is currently experiencing the longest and darkest recession of any major economy is already beginning to crumble.

The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, stated, "We have a clear plan to half inflation this year — an insidious hidden tax that has increased interest rates and mortgage costs, slowing growth here and abroad."

The GDP results, according to shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, are "simply another page in the book of failure that is the Tory record on growth," she claimed.

Telecommunications and computer programming, according to Darren Morgan, director of economic statistics for the ONS, helped push the economy into growth in November. "As more people went out to watch World Cup games, pubs, and bars also did well.

“This was partially offset by further falls in some manufacturing industries, including the often-erratic pharmaceutical industry, as well as falls in transport and postal, partially due to the impact of strikes.” "This is a better activity than was projected for November and will thus further help to the improvement in market confidence we have seen in the last few weeks," said Kitty Ussher, chief economist of the Institute of Directors.

In November, the UK's goods trade deficit increased to £15.6 billion, slightly higher than the £14.9 billion predicted in a Reuters poll.

Brexit has harmed trade with the European Union, though it has been difficult to quantify the extent because of changes in data gathering, differences between British and EU data, and pandemic impacts.

According to HSBC's Martins, exports have increased by almost 20% since June. However, according to the most recent ONS data, exports to the EU are now 4.5% lower than they were before the pandemic, while exports to non-EU countries are 0.4% higher.

UK ‘may avoid recession’ until later this year after World Cup boost

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