Strong GDP growth expected

Estimates from the Office of National Statistics suggest gross domestic product (GDP) will have grown by 0.9%. The figure will be announced later this morning.

It will mark the fifth consecutive period of GDP growth and the longest since before the financial crisis.

GDP grew 0.7% in the final quarter of 2013 and the strong figures follow the Bank of England’s revised estimate of the UK’s economic growth to 1% for the first quarter of this year.

Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund said it expects the UK to be the best-performing of the world’s largest economies in 2014, with growth of 2.9% for the year. On the back of these positive figures, analysts are predicting that the Bank of England will raise its interest rate, which has been kept at a record low of 0.5%.