LONDON, (Reuters) – The UK’s economy contracted by 0.1% in March and grew by 0.8% in the first quarter 2022 overall, according to official statistics. This is likely to be a record for 2022 given the increasing cost of living.

Reuters polled economists to find that the average gross domestic product expected to stay flat in March. However, it had increased 1.0% by the end of the year compared to 2021’s final quarter.

A 0.2% drop in the output of Britain’s most important services sector led to a decline in GDP.

The UK’s economy contracted by 9.3% in 2020, and then grew by 7.4% by 2021. This was the largest swing in output during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On a monthly basis, the overall GDP is 1.2% higher than its February 2020 level pre-COVID.

Economists believe that Britain is at greater risk of falling back into recession as the conflict in Ukraine has exacerbated existing post-pandemic pressures. The Bank of England forecasts that this will cause inflation to rise above 10% by year’s end.

Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is being pressured by political forces to offer more assistance to families to combat rising energy bills and other necessities that have caused an unprecedented drop in consumer sentiment.

British’s National Institute of Economic and Social Research was a think-tank that forecasted Wednesday that British GDP would drop in the third and forth quarters of 2012. This is consistent with the technically defined recession.

The International Monetary Fund forecast that Britain will see the lowest growth and the highest levels of inflation next year.