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Monthly gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have increased by a narrow 0.3% in January, with a faster recovery than expected, according to the latest figures released by ONS on Friday.
The news comes after economists predicted the UK could go into recession, considering that in the three months to January 2023 GDP fell flat.
ONS reported specifically that the services sector grew by 0.5% in January 2023 and was “the main driver” of the increase in GDP, while production fell by 0.3% in January 2023, and construction output decreased by 1.7%.
The largest growth came from the education sector which grew by 2.5% meanwhile transport and storage services grew by only 1.6% on the month.
Despite the narrowly-avoided recession, the UK still remains the only G7 country which has not fully economically recovered after the pandemic. Monthly GDP is now estimated to be 0.2% below its pre-coronavirus levels.
At the same time, the trade in goods deficit widened by £1.4bn to £64.1bn in the three months to January 2023, imports of goods fell by £4.1bn while the total exports of goods decreased by £0.3bn.
Commenting on today’s GDP figures for January, ONS director of economic statistics Darren Morgan said: “The economy partially bounced back from the large fall seen in December. Across the last three months as a whole and, indeed over the last 12 months, the economy has, though, showed zero growth.
“The main drivers of January’s growth were the return of children to classrooms, following unusually high absences in the run-up to Christmas, the Premier League clubs returned to a full schedule after the end of the World Cup and private health providers also had a strong month. Postal services also partially recovered from the effects of December’s strikes.”
