Unpredicted Jolt To UK Economy

London: The British economy unexpectedly shrank during January, piling pressure on Treasury chief Rachel Reeves before a key statement about the state of the public finances later this month. Official figures on Friday showed that the economy, the world’s sixth-largest, saw output drop by 0.1 per cent during the month, in contrast to expectations for a modest increase and December’s solid 0.4 per cent gain.

The Office of National Statistics said the weak performance was largely due to bad weather affecting the manufacturing and construction sectors, despite a solid performance by the services sector, which accounts for around 80 per cent of the British economy.