Today's Edition
LONDON (REUTERS)
British economic output failed to grow in the third quarter, official figures showed, adding to the economic woes of the government of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
A preliminary estimate for the July-to-September period released by the ONS in November had shown gross domestic product growth at 0.1%.
But the Office for National Statistics on Monday lowered the figure to 0.0%.
The ONS also cut its estimate of growth in the second quarter to 0.4% from a previous 0.5%.
Starmer and his Finance Minister Rachel Reeves took power in early July warning of the poor state of the economy before announcing tax increases for employers in a budget on Oct. 30.
The Bank of England last week forecast that the economy will show zero growth in the fourth quarter. But it kept borrowing costs on hold because of the risks still posed by inflation.
The ONS said Britain's current account deficit shrank to 18.1 billion pounds in the third quarter from 24 billion pounds in the April-to-June period.
The Reuters poll of economists had pointed to a shortfall of 22.5 billion pounds.
