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The UK’s economy registered no growth in February, as a contraction in services and production offset progress in the construction sector, according to the Office for National Statistics on Thursday.
ONS estimated that in February, real gross domestic product registered no growth from the previous month. This compared with the upwardly revised 0.4% growth seen in January. January was initially estimated at 0.3% growth.
February’s reading was below the 0.1% market consensus, as cited by FXStreet. The ONS explained that falls in services and production were offset by growth in construction.
The services sector saw a 0.1% contraction during the month, after an upwardly revised 0.7% growth in January from December.
‘The largest contributions to the fall in services output in February 2023 came from education and public administration and defence; compulsory social security, industrial action took place in both of these industries in February 2023,’ ONS said.
However, growth was 0.4% in consumer-facing services, led by retail trade growth, excluding motor vehicles and motorcycles.
Production output fell by 0.2%, easing from a downwardly revised 0.5% fall in January.
‘Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply fell by 2.2% and was the largest contributor to the fall in February 2023,’ ONS explained.
‘Mining and quarrying was the only positive contributor to production, growing by 3.0% in February 2023. This was driven by extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas.’
Meanwhile, the construction sector grew by 2.4% in February, compared to a 1.7% fall in January. February saw the highest monthly value in level terms since records began in 2010, ONS said, at £15.56 billion.
‘The increase in monthly construction output came from increases in both repair and maintenance (4.5%) and new work (1.1%) on the month, with eight out of the nine sectors seeing an increase on the month,’ ONS explained.
‘The increase was partially driven by a bounce back from the fall in January 2023, but also continued strength across repair and maintenance sectors. Many firms also noted an improvement of weather in February 2023, which allowed them to get more work done,’ ONS added.
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