- Title: Economic figures 'can't be entirely relied on' - UK business minister
- Date: 12th October 2022
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - SEPTEMBER 27, 2022) (REUTERS) (MUTE) BRITISH POUND COIN SPINNING POUND COINS BEING KNOCKED OVER
- Embargoed: 26th October 2022 10:09
- Keywords: Economy IMF Jacob Rees-Mogg UK sterling
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: UK
- Topics: Europe,Economic Events
- Reuters ID: LVA003168412102022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Britain's business minister Jacob Rees-Mogg said on Wednesday (October 12) that economic figures are not always accurate, as data showed the country's economy is on the brink of recession.
The UK's economy unexpectedly shrank in August as weakness in manufacturing and maintenance work in the North Sea oil and gas fields contributed to a 0.3% fall in gross domestic product from July.
A Reuters poll of economists had pointed to zero growth.
''Figures on the day they're announced of economic growth or otherwise, they can't be entirely relied on. They're highly subject to change,'' Ress-Mogg said during an interview with the BBC.
British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who took office at the beginning of September, has vowed to reignite economic growth by reforming planning rules, workers' rights, and immigration while cutting tens of billions of pounds of taxes.
The unfunded tax cuts have caused turmoil in financial markets.
Ress-Mogg defended the government's fiscal policy suggesting ''growth is everything" and would help the country reduce its debt-to-GDP ratio.
He also said recent market moves in British gilts are a result of interest rate differentials - namely with the United States - rather than the British government's policies.
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