Preliminary figures from the Office for National Statistics on Friday showed that the UK’s economy expanded at the beginning of the year after contracting in March. This was due to the strong recovery in services, which led to an increase in GDP.
From December, when it fell 0.5 percentage points, the monthly gross domestic product increased by 0.3 percent. This was better than economists expected, who had predicted a modest 0.1% growth. The three months ending January saw GDP stagnate. James Smith, an ING economist, stated that the GDP was flat because of volatility.
“Low gas prices suggest that any recession will be very limited now, and may technically be avoided.”
Research firm expects a 25 basis point increase from Bank of England in March’s policy session.
According to the ONS, the monthly GDP has fallen 0.2% from its February 2020 levels (pre-coronavirus), After a December contraction of 0.8 percent, the services sector saw a 0.5 percent increase in January.
Education, transport and storage were the biggest contributors to growth. All of these activities have recovered from December’s falls.
Overall production fell by 0.3 percent in…
