UK economy shows no growth in February as strikes weigh

BRITAIN’S economy failed to grow as expected in February as strikes by public workers hit output, but a bounce in January was stronger than first thought, meaning a recession is a bit less likely to be brewing in early 2023, official data showed.

Economic output was flat in month-on-month terms in February, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Thursday (Apr 13).

A Reuters poll of economists had pointed to growth of 0.1 per cent.

The vast services sector contracted by 0.1 per cent in February, hurt by strikes by teachers and other public sector workers, but was offset by a surge in the much smaller construction sector, which rebounded from bad weather in January, the ONS said.

The ONS revised up January’s monthly growth rate in the overall economy to 0.4 per cent from a previous estimate of 0.3 per cent.

The revision means the economy would need to have shrunk by 0.6 per cent in March for the first quarter as a whole to show a contraction, as the Bank of England has said it expects.

Finance minister Jeremy Hunt said the data showed Britain’s economic performance had been stronger than thought.

ONS officials attributed the jump in construction output to a recovery in February from disruption caused by bad weather in January, especially in new work, and a surge in maintenance and repair work.

“A combination of upward revisions in GDP data and an improvement in global economic conditions could help the UK economy avoid a recession this year,” Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK, said.

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“While this will provide relief for policymakers, the outlook for growth in the medium-term remains relatively weak by historical standards.” REUTERS