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New data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has shown Britain’s economy to be growing at a faster rate than expected.
The UK GDP grew by 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017. Economists had predicted a growth of 0.4 percent but continue to warn that the overall growth for the year was the slowest since 2012.
The ONS have warned not to be distracted by this small growth when the bigger picture still shows a weaker and more uneven expansion.
“Despite a slight uptick in the latest quarter, the underlying picture is of slower and uneven growth across the economy,” said Darren Morgan of the ONS.
The slowing economy has been due to the rising inflation, which was prompted by the fall in the value of the pound following the Brexit vote.
Peter Dowd, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury warned of the new ONS report highlighting “continued Tory austerity”.
“We need an urgent change of direction,” Dowd added.
The ONS said: “The dominant services sector, driven by business services and finance, increased by 0.6 percent compared with the previous quarter,”
“The boost to the economy at the end of the year came from a range of services including recruitment agencies, letting agents and office management,” said Darren Morgan, the ONS’ head of GDP.
“Other services – notably consumer-facing sectors – showed much slower growth. Manufacturing also grew strongly but construction again fell.”
Economists have said that the UK would be in a better position if they did not vote to leave the EU in June 2016.
“The UK economy is in a chronic crawl at the moment whilst the rest of the world is enjoying a significant skip higher in growth,” said Jeremy Cook, chief economist at payments transfer firm World First.
Following the report, the pound was significantly higher and was up over 1 percent against the dollar at 9.45 a.m. GMT.