(Alliance News) - The UK economy defied expectations and posted marginal growth in November, official figures on Friday showed.
Gross domestic product was helped by the start of the football World Cup, which boosted consumer-facing sectors, the Office for National Statistics explained.
UK GDP grew by 0.1% month-on-month in November, slowing from October's unrevised growth of 0.5%. The economy had been expected to shrink by 0.2% in November, according to consensus cited by FXStreet.
"Output in consumer-facing services grew by 0.4% in November 2022, following growth of 1.5% (revised up from a growth of 1.2% in our previous publication) in October 2022; the largest contribution to growth came from food and beverage service activities in a month where the FIFA World Cup started," the ONS added.
A boost for consumer-facing sectors contrasted with a fall in manufacturing.
"Production output decreased by 0.2% in November 2022, after a fall of 0.1% (revised down from flat in our previous publication) in October 2022; manufacturing was the main driver of negative production growth in November 2022, partially offset by a positive contribution from mining and quarrying," the ONS said.
However, GDP fell by 0.3% in the three months to November 2022 compared with the three months to August 2022. GDP is 0.3% below its pre-Covid level, the ONS said.
Annual growth slowed to 0.2% in November from 1.1% in October.
Elsewhere, the ONS said industrial output fell 0.2% on-month in November, having registered a 0.1% fall in October from September. Annually, output slumped 5.1% in November, after a 4.7% decline in October.
Finally, the UK's trade deficit narrowed in the three months to November.
The deficit was trimmed by GBP6.5 billion to GBP20.2 billion in the three months to November, compared to the three months to August.
Exports over that period edged up 0.3% to GBP203.0 billion, while imports fell 2.6% to GBP223.2 billion.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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