UK economy stagnates during final three months of 2022

By DANICA KIRKA
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — The British economy has stagnated in the final three months of last year under the weight of a cost-of-living crisis. It’s squeezing household budgets, crimping business investment and fueling labor unrest. The Office for National Statistics said Friday that gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, failed to grow during the fourth quarter of 2022. Monthly estimates suggest that economic activity slowed at the end of the year, with output shrinking 0.5% in December. Overall, the economy expanded 4% for the year, more than any other Group of Seven advanced economy. But that growth occurred in the early part of the year, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sparked sharp rises in food and energy prices.