New Delhi (India) June 12: The UK economy contracted by 0.1% in April, official figures showed on Friday, as the ongoing West Asia war drove up energy prices and weakened consumer confidence.
The decline follows stronger growth earlier in the year, with rising oil costs linked to the Iran conflict increasing financial pressure on households and businesses.
Services and retail activity slowed amid mounting inflation concerns, while economic forecasters have downgraded growth projections for 2026.
Data released by the Office for National Statistics highlighted the vulnerability of the UK economy as a net energy importer exposed to global shocks stemming from the US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
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On the other hand, India remained world’s fastest-growing large economy, according to the World Bank's latest data.
The World Bank has projected that the Indian economy will grow at the rate of 6.6 percent in 2026. Notably, the current projection shows a contraction in the growth rate from 7 percent growth in 2025.
While releasing the growth data , World Bank chief economist Indermit Gill stated that GDP growth rate of the Indian economy were expected to remain fairly high.
The projection is significant because the financing body has slashed its global growth forecast for 2026 to 2.5%. The World bank said that rising geopolitical tensions and the conflict in the Middle East has become a major hurdle, impacting the global economic growth. The body has also warned that global growth could slow sharply to 1.3% if disruptions to energy supplies intensify and trigger significant stress in financial markets.
The World Bank lowered growth forecasts for nearly two-thirds of countries, with the largest revisions affecting energy-exporting economies in the Middle East. Growth in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan region is now expected at 1.6% in 2026, down sharply from 4% in 2025.
In a more adverse scenario involving financial market stress triggered by the energy shock, global growth could fall to just 1.3%, the bank said.
“These risk scenarios show how quickly the outlook could weaken if energy and financial pressure reinforce each other,” said Ayhan Kose, the World Bank’s deputy chief economist.
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