UK Escapes Recession With Fastest Growth In Almost Three Years
The U.K. economy has emerged from recession as gross domestic product rose 0.6% in the first quarter, official figures showed Friday, beating expectations.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast growth of 0.4% on the previous three months of the year.
The U.K. entered a shallow recession in the second half of 2023, as persistent inflation continued to hurt the economy.
Although there is no official definition of a recession, two straight quarters of negative growth is widely considered a technical recession.
The U.K.’s production sector expanded by 0.8% in the period from January to March, while construction fell by 0.9%. On a monthly basis, the economy grew by 0.4% in March, following 0.2% expansion in February.
In output terms, the services sector — crucial to the U.K. economy — grew for the first time since the first quarter in 2023, the Office for National Statistics said. The 0.7% growth was mainly driven by the transport services industry which saw its highest quarterly growth rate since 2020.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose Conservative Party recently suffered significant losses at local elections, welcomed the news. “The economy has turned a corner,” he said in a post on social media platform X.
