Spending linked to the World Cup helped the UK economy to grow in November, new figures show.
Gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.1%, with pubs and restaurants benefiting as people went out to watch the football.
Growth slowed from 0.5% in October, partly due to strike action by rail workers and Royal Mail staff.
The figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also show that the overall three-month trend is down. GDP fell by 0.3% in the three months to November.
However, although the economy is weak the UK is not officially in recession, which is defined as two consecutive three-month periods of contraction. This depends on next month’s figures for October to December.
UK economic output shrank by 0.3% between July and September.
ONS director of economic statistics Darren Morgan told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the economy would have to shrink by 0.6% in December for the fourth quarter of 2022 to contract as a whole.
He added that one in six businesses have told the ONS “they have been affected as a result of industrial action so we would have to see how the impact of industrial action feeds into our December figure in a few weeks’ time”.
