The British economy rebounded with a stronger-than-expected January GDP reading

City employees at Paternoster Square, home of the London Stock Exchange, in London, UK, on ​​Thursday, March 2, 2023.

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Official figures on Friday showed that the UK economy expanded by 0.3% in January, beating expectations as economists continue to spiral out of what economists say is an inevitable recession.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected a monthly increase of 0.1% in gross domestic product. The Office for National Statistics said that GDP remained flat in the three months to the end of January.

The services sector increased by 0.5% in January 2023, after a decline of 0.8% in December 2022. The main contributors to growth in January 2023 were education, transportation and storage, human health activities, and arts, leisure and entertainment activities, all of them. Which recovered after regression in December 2022. Found ONS

Industrial production fell 0.3% in January after rising 0.3% in December, while the construction sector fell 1.7% in January after stagnating the previous month.

The British economy showed no growth to avoid a recession in the last quarter of 2022 – generally defined as two quarters of negative growth – but it contracted 0.5% in December.

Both the Bank of England and the Office for Budget Responsibility have forecast a five-year recession from the first quarter of 2023, but the data has been higher than expected so far.

The UK is the only major economy of the Group of Seven (G7) that has not fully recovered the output lost during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Office for National Statistics said on Friday that monthly gross domestic product is now estimated to be 0.2% below pre-pandemic levels.