UK out of recession
THE UK emerged from double dip recession today as new figures showed the economy grew 1% in the third quarter.
But experts warned that the figure could be overstating the extent of the recovery as it reflected the impact of one-off events, in particular the Olympic Games.
The Office for National Statistics said that while the production and service sectors grew, construction sector output fell by 2.5%.
The economy first went into recession in the second quarter of 2008 and did not emerge until the third quarter of 2009. Growth continued, barring a blip at the end of 2010, until the fourth quarter of 2011 when the economy shrank again and continued to do so through the first half of 2012.
However more positive data, in particular jobs figures, have led to questions over how well the official GDP number is reflecting the performance of the UK economy.
The end of the double dip recession will lift some of the pressure on the Coalition’s economic strategy but the recovery remains weak amid ongoing turbulence in the eurozone.
