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The Office for National Statistics said gross domestic product grew by 0.2% in February from a month earlier, confounding City economists’ expectations for zero growth as Brexit nears and the world economy slows.
Over the three months to February, the rate of growth remained unchanged at 0.3% from the three-month figure recorded in January. The annual GDP growth rate accelerated to 2%, the highest since November 2017, although against a comparable period in 2018 when the economy was weak.
Rob Kent-Smith, the head of GDP at the ONS, said: “GDP growth remained modest in the latest three months. Services again drove the economy, with a continued strong performance in IT.
“Manufacturing also continued to recover after weakness at the end of last year with the often-erratic pharmaceutical industry, chemicals and alcohol performing well in recent months.”
The latest snapshot appears to suggest that the British economy is managing to navigate the political chaos in Westminster relatively unscathed. Monthly GDP growth is still, however, much lower than summer 2018, when warm weather helped drive stronger rates of expansion.
Stockpiling may also have boosted economic growth. The ONS said it found “some qualitative evidence” that manufacturing firms changed the timing of their activities ahead of the original date for leaving the EU on 29 March. Whitehall’s statistics body said it was unable, however, to quantify the impact. [...]
ONS GDP monthly estimate, UK: February 2019