Goldman Sachs and J.P.Morgan on Wednesday lowered their forecast for Britain’s annual economic growth to 0.5%, as official data showed that the world’s sixth-largest economy shrank in October.

Both lenders had earlier forecast the country’s economy to expand by 0.6% in 2023.

UK’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.3% from September levels, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday.

It was the first time since July that GDP had shrunk on a month-by-month basis.

Goldman Sachs weighs sale of part of its wealth business

For 2024, Goldman Sachs expects the economy to expand by 0.6%, down from previous outlook of 0.7%, while J.P.Morgan cut the growth forecast to 0.2% from 0.4%.