Suspending Premier League football in December during World Cup in Qatar caused economy to shrink at end of 2022
Own goal: Official figures from the ONS showed gross domestic product fell 0.5 per cent in December during the World Cup
Suspending the Premier League in December during the World Cup in Qatar caused the economy to shrink at the end of 2022.
Official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed gross domestic product fell 0.5 per cent in December, down from growth of 0.1 per cent in the prior month.
A breakdown of the statistics reveal that one of the biggest contributors to the decline came from sports activities and recreation, which tumbled by 17 per cent during the month after the Premier League suspended fixtures. That meant fans were no longer splashing out on tickets, team merchandise, and match day pies and beers.
The data also flagged feedback from retailers that consumers had been ‘cutting back on spending because of increased prices and affordability concerns’ over the festive period.
But the main drag on growth was a 2.8 per cent drop in health and social work activities, which the ONS attributed to fewer patients booking GP appointments and operations as a result of strike action.
Other issues included lower educational attendance in the run up to Christmas as pupils could not take trains to school.
However, the economy managed to avoid slipping into recession after recording zero GDP growth in the final three months of last year. That was enough to avoid recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of decline.
