LONDON- Britain’s economy unexpectedly contracted in January, extending a run of stop-start data that has dogged finance minister Rachel Reeves’ attempts to ignite growth, before an update to parliament on the economic outlook.
Gross domestic product fell by 0.1 percent in January, pulled down by a sharp drop in industrial output compared with December, the Office for National Statistics said on Friday.
A Reuters poll of economists had forecast a monthly expansion of 0.1 percent. While January’s drop only partially reverses a 0.4 percent expansion in December, the reading represents a disappointment for Reeves, whose number one mission is to get the economy growing.
“The world has changed and across the globe we are feeling the consequences,” Reeves said in response to Friday’s data.
