Business and Economics

Fact checked: Tory claim that UK recorded ‘fastest economic growth in G7’ in 2022

The Conservatives have bragged about economic data revealed today suggesting the UK recorded the fastest growth in the G7 in 2022.

The Office for National Statistics recorded 0.0 per cent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of 2022, meaning a recession was narrowly avoided.

Across the year as a whole, the economy grew by 4 per cent as restaurants, bars and travel agents bounced back from the pandemic, the ONS said.

But the growth figure was hardly anything to brag about.

As the below graph shows, the growth figure is nothing more than a statistical anomaly caused by the largest fall in GDP of any of the G7 in 2020.

In fact, the UK remains the only G7 country with smaller economy than before Covid-19.

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Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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