On a sunny, mild day, people stroll along Waterloo Bridge and past the City of London skyline.
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LONDON – Britain’s gross domestic product rose 0.2% in January, with construction output unexpectedly rising, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday.
The overall data was in line with forecasts by economists polled by Reuters.
Previously, the British economy entered a shallow recession in the second half of last year, with a contraction of 0.1% in December.
The Office for National Statistics said construction output grew 1.1% in January but fell 0.9% in three months. The services sector, which contributed the most to growth, grew 0.2% in January, while output fell 0.2%.
Jack Meaning, chief UK economist at Barclays, described the figures as “not a very positive situation, but it is above where we were at the end of last year.”
“Industrial and manufacturing have been soft over the past few reports and you would expect eventually to see some rebound,” Meaning said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Wednesday.
“That’s good to see, but we have to look at it longer to know if it’s sustainable.”
this GBP and Dollar and EUR After publishing.
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