U.K. economy grew a little in November as World Cup supported consumption

By Geoffrey Smith

Investing.com -- The British economy eked out modest growth in November as the start of the FIFA World Cup supported consumption, but industry and construction continued to shrink under the impact of raging inflation and high energy prices.

Gross domestic product rose by 0.1% from October, with the biggest contribution to growth coming from consumer-facing services, which grew 0.4%.

However, manufacturing output contracted by 0.5%, and construction output was flat, the Office for National Statistics said.

As a result, GDP over the rolling three-month period was down by 0.3% through November, measured against the previous three months. There was a 0.1% fall in services, and a 1.4% fall in production, with the only growth coming from construction, which increased by 0.3%.

The numbers mean that the U.K.'s economy is still smaller than it was before the pandemic and has fallen further below where pre-pandemic trends suggest it would have been, had COVID-19 not happened.

Naeem Aslam, chief market strategist with AvaTrade, said that the figures were "not so bad" but "will get ugly" in the coming months, high inflation continues to erode spending power.