UK, Bollywood Fever: Britain’s economy exceeded expectations by expanding 0.6% in the first quarter of 2024, marking the end of the shallow recession that began in the latter part of the previous year, according to official figures released on Friday.
Economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast a 0.4% GDP increase from January to March, following a 0.3% contraction in the last quarter of 2023.
The Office for National Statistics’ data is likely to be seen as positive news by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. However, the opposition Labour Party, which leads by a significant margin in opinion polls, criticized Sunak and Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt for being out of touch with the public’s economic concerns.
The Bank of England, which maintained interest rates at a 16-year high on Thursday, had predicted a 0.4% GDP growth for the first quarter of 2024 and a smaller 0.2% increase for the second quarter.
In March alone, the economy expanded by 0.4%, surpassing economists’ expectations of 0.1% growth.
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