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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| UK GDP growth unchanged at 0.3% | UK GDP growth unchanged at 0.3% |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The UK economy grew by 0.3% in the quarter from January to March, the latest official figures have confirmed. | The UK economy grew by 0.3% in the quarter from January to March, the latest official figures have confirmed. |
| The revision of the GDP data is unchanged from that issued by the Office for National Statistics in June. | The revision of the GDP data is unchanged from that issued by the Office for National Statistics in June. |
| Release of the first-quarter numbers was delayed because of concerns about the reliability of some of the data. | |
| Quarterly GDP figures, revised twice at monthly intervals, are closely watched by economists as an indication of the state of the UK economy. | Quarterly GDP figures, revised twice at monthly intervals, are closely watched by economists as an indication of the state of the UK economy. |
| The ONS also confirmed that Britain emerged from recession in the fourth quarter of 2010, with the economy growing at a quarterly rate of 0.4%, as earlier estimated. | |
| Deeper recession | |
| However, as part of a major revision of previous quarters' GDP data, the ONS said that Britain's economy contracted by 6.4% between the second quarter of 2008 and the third quarter of 2009. | |
| This is more than the 6.2% reported previously, suggesting that the recession was deeper than first thought. | |
| Vicky Redwood, of Capital Economics, said the figures "show that the recovery is still estimated to have got off to a fairly slow start at the beginning of the year." | |
| She added: "We still doubt that the economy is in a good position to withstand the fiscal squeeze". | |
| However, Ross Walker, economist at RBS Financial Markets, was slightly more optimistic about future growth. | |
| "Everybody's eyeing with a little bit more concern some of the loss of momentum we are seeing in the latest surveys. The rear view mirror stuff is fine and it's going to continue to get better, but we know that," he said. | |
| Separate ONS data showed that output in the services sector fell by 0.3% in April, in part due to disruption from Iceland's volcanic ash cloud. | |
| The ONS also released first-quarter current account data, which showed that Britain's deficit with the rest of the world widened to £9.628bn in the last three months of 2009. |