The UK’s economy grew stronger than expected at 0.6% in the first quarter of this year. However, the country’s economic growth after the COVID-19 pandemic has been slow.
Britain saw stronger than expected growth in first quarter, as it exited recession in the first quarter of 2024. This comes as the country heads to elections this year.
The gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 0.6%, more than the 0.4% market projection in the first three months of this year, said the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
During the last two quarters of 2023, the UK economy had seen stubborn inflation and a rise in the cost of living.
GDP had shrunk by 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2023. It had contracted by 0.1% in the third quarter of the same year.
Most economies did. But it can’t be sustainable, because like in the rest of the world the wallets are all being drained because of basic expenses like food and housing. Every company, and shareholder, only wants the number to go up. But inflation will kick their source of income in the butt eventually when people can only afford their most basic needs, if even that.
That may be interesting to politicians and economists. But GDP shrinking or growing by 0.x % makes no difference to most of us. Not until shrinkflation, above inflation annual price rises baked into contracts for mobile phones etc and general enshittification are dealt with.
People are getting poorer at a slower rate.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 0.6%, more than the 0.4% market projection in the first three months of this year, said the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
“There is no doubt it has been a difficult few years, but today’s growth figures are proof that the economy is returning to full health for the first time since the pandemic,” said Chancellor of the Exchequer, or finance minister, Jeremy Hunt.
However, Labour’s shadow finance minister Rachel Reeves slammed Conservative’s stewardship of the economy, underlining the impact of the cost-of-living crunch.
“This is no time for Conservative ministers to be doing a victory lap and telling the British people that they have never had it so good,” said the Labour Party’s Rachel Reeves.
At the end of the first quarter of 2024, the country’s economy had grown by 1.7% than its level in late 2019, with only Germany among the G7 faring worse.
On Thursday, the Bank of England kept its main interest rate at a 16-year high but said it may consider a cut in the coming months.
The original article contains 312 words, the summary contains 175 words. Saved 44%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
