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Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that after a dismal spring and early summer all sectors of the economy registered growth in the third quarter’s first month.
Fears that Britain could slip into recession – two consecutive quarters of falling gross domestic product – had been stoked by the 0.2% decline in output in the three months to June.
However, in July the services sector – which accounts for about 80% of the economy – grew by 0.3%, while the struggling manufacturing and construction sectors also bounced back, with increases in output of 0.3% and 0.5% respectively. The City had been braced for a smaller 0.1% increase in GDP in July
The ONS warned against reading too much into a single month’s data, noting that in the three months to July the economy showed no growth. [...]