Boost for economy as GDP outstrips forecasts

The Government received a boost this morning (April 11) with the news that GDP grew 0.5% in February and 0.6% in the three months to February.

Compared to the same month a year ago, GDP was 1.4% higher in February 2025.

Economists had been expecting just 0.1% growth.

The economy grew strongly in February with widespread growth across both services and manufacturing industries.

Liz McKeown, director of economic statistics at the Office for National Statistics, said: “Within services, computer programming, telecoms and car dealerships all had strong months, while in manufacturing electronics and pharmaceuticals led the way and car manufacturing also picked up after its recent poor performance.

“Across the last three months as a whole, the economy also grew strongly with broad-based growth across service industries.”

Paul Cherpeau, chief executive of Liverpool Chamber, said: “News of growth is always welcome and, even if it may be short lived, it will provide a small injection of confidence at a time of incredible uncertainty in the wider economic landscape.

“This month, businesses are being hit with increasing domestic costs, including the National Insurance rise, and growing international trade uncertainty.

“Business owners crave certainty and they will be desperate to know what the future holds, but it is almost impossible to plan too far ahead when we do not know what impact UK policies, global tariffs and other geopolitical factors will have.”