Unlock the publisher’s digest free
Roula Khalaf, editor -in -chief of the FT, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The British economy increased unexpectedly by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, in a modest increase in the workforce when it seeks to achieve its promises to revise the economy.
The GDP figure for the last three months of the year from the Office for National Statistics has marked an increase in zero growth in the quarter which ended in September, but which is still in accordance with an economy that has harm to take momentum.
Economists had provided a contraction of 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to a Reuters survey. The book has strengthened after the release of data, up 0.5% compared to the dollar to $ 1.251.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves promised to make growth the main mission of the government, throwing her support behind projects, including a third track at London Heathrow Airport and transport ties between Oxford and Cambridge.
But the economy disappointed several times since work took power, stagnating in the second half of last year. It is estimated that real GDP per capita dropped by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the ONS.
The latest data crowned a “disappointing year for growth,” said Hailey Low, an economist at the National Institute for Economic and Social Research.
“The low confidence in business and consumers suggest that 2025 begins on fragile terrain, with a low investment and cautious spending of consumers who prevent the moment,” she added.
During the whole of 2024, the economy developed by 0.9%, according to the ONS, a modest improvement in the expansion of 0.4% the previous year. However, this did not succeed in prediction in October by the Budget Liability Office, the British tax guard dog.
Annual growth was also much lower than that recorded in the United States, where GDP increased by 2.8% in 2024.
The OBR should reduce its growth forecasts in the next spring declaration, reaching tax revenue and increasing the budgetary pressures that the Chancellor is confronted with the Chancellor.
Last week, the watchdog told Reeves that the margin it previously had against its key budgetary rule had been destroyed by factors including poor economic data.
Responding to Thursday’s GDP figures, Reeves said: “For too long, politicians accepted an economy that failed workers. I won’t do it. After 14 years of standard standard of living, we go further and faster thanks to our change plan to put more money in the pockets of people. »»
OnS figures have shown that the economy developed 0.4% in December following an unclean growth figure of 0.1% in the previous month. The improvement was motivated by production in the dominant services sector of the United Kingdom.
