New GDP figures boost for economy
Updated on 26 February 2010
Revised figures show the UK economy grew by 0.3 per cent in the final three months of 2009 - it is higher than first estimated but there are still fears that the economy will shrink again.
The new data from the Official for National Statistics (ONS) reveals the UK made a faster than expected climb out of recession in the final three months of last year.
The figure is an improvement on the meagre 0.1 per cent advance shown by the first first estimate a month ago, and ahead of the 0.2 per cent expected by markets.
The rare good news came after output from the UK's services and manufacturing sectors was revised upwards.
It should also ease political pressure on the government over its stewardship of the UK through recession as a general election looms.
The UK's services sector - which accounts for 75 per cent of output - performed much more strongly than first thought in the final quarter of 2009 with growth revised up from 0.1 per cent to 0.5 per cent.
This is the strongest growth for services since before the recession began in the first three months of 2008.
Output from production industries was lifted from 0.1 per cent to 0.4 per cent with manufacturing registering growth of 0.8 per cent - twice as fast as previously thought.
Figures for household spending also hinted at an upturn in consumer spending as the impact of record low interest rates and VAT cuts worked through the economy.
Household expenditure rose by 0.4 per cent over the quarter - the biggest rise since the opening three months of 2008.
However, revisions to previous quarters show that the recession was the deepest on record, with a 6.2 per cent peak-to-trough slump - worse than the downturn in the early years of Margaret Thatcher's leadership in the 1980s.
