UK's economy might now be in a recession according to data which showed output shrank in the July-to-September period, shortly after finance minister Jeremy Hunt suggested the Bank of England might cut interest rates to help boost growth, Report informs referring to Reuters.

Gross domestic product contracted by 0.1% in the third quarter, the Office for National Statistics said on December 22.

It had previously estimated that the economy showed no change compared with the previous three months and economists polled by Reuters had mostly expected another unchanged reading.

The ONS also said economic output in the second quarter was now estimated to have shown no growth, a downwards revision from a previous estimate of 0.2% growth.

However, separate data showed retail sales in November jumped by much more than expected, increasing by 1.3% from October, boosted by discount sales.

Sterling rose against the dollar and the euro after the data releases.

The ONS said fresh tax data showed smaller businesses in particular had struggled in the second quarter, especially hospitality and information technology, and the broader picture for the economy was one of little change over the last year.

The boost to retail sales volumes reflected heavy discounting during the Black Friday sales promotions but sales fell over the three months to November and were still below their pre-pandemic levels, the statistics office said.