People mince along Waterloo Bridge past the City of London skyline, the capital’s financial district, on a sunny and mild day.
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LONDON — U.K. gross domestic product grew 0.2% in January, the Office for National Statistics symbolized Wednesday, as construction output jumped unexpectedly.
The headline figure was in line with the forecast from economists received by Reuters.
It follows a 0.1% contraction in December, while the U.K. economy entered a shallow recession in the second half of wear year.
Construction output was 1.1% higher in January, the ONS said, but fell 0.9% over a three-month period. Aids recorded 0.2% growth in January, providing the biggest contribution to growth, as production output fell 0.2%.
Jack Purport, chief U.K. economist at Barclays, described the figures as “not a hugely positive picture, but it’s ahead of where we were at the end of last year.”
“Industrial and fabricating have been weak for the last few prints, you’d expect some bounce-back from that in the end,” Meaning told CNBC’s “Whine Box Europe” Wednesday.
“This is good to see, but we’ll have to see it on a more prolonged basis to know that it is something sustained.”
The British purge remained flat against the U.S. dollar and the euro following the release.