UK GDP grows 0.1% in February

The UK economy grew a touch in February, according to figures released on Friday by the Office for National Statistics.

GDP grew 0.1% following 0.3% growth the month before, in line with consensus expectations. January’s figure was revised up from a previous estimate of 0.2%. growth.

The data suggested GDP did not contract in the quarter between January and March, raising hopes that a recession is over. This follows a contraction in the third and final quarters of 2023.

Liz McKeown, director of economic statistics at the ONS, said: "The economy grew slightly in February with widespread growth across manufacturing, particularly in the car sector. Services also grew a little with public transport and haulage, and telecommunications having strong months.

"Partially offsetting this there were notable falls across construction as the wet weather hampered many building projects.

"Looking across the last three months as a whole, the economy grew for the first time since last summer."

Paul Dales, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said the 0.1% gain in February and the revision to January all but confirms the recession ended in the fourth quarter.

"But while we expect a better economic recovery than most, we doubt it will be strong enough to prevent inflation (and interest rates) from falling much further as appears to be happening in the US," he added.