People walk along Waterloo Bridge past the skyline of the City of London, the capital's financial district, on a sunny, mild day.
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LONDON – The UK's gross domestic product grew by 0.2% in January, with construction output unexpectedly jumping, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday.
The headline figure was in line with expectations of economists polled by Reuters.
This follows a 0.1% contraction in December, while the British economy entered a shallow recession in the second half of last year.
The Office for National Statistics said construction production rose by 1.1% in January, but fell by 0.9% over the three-month period. Services recorded growth of 0.2% in January, making the largest contribution to growth, as production output fell by 0.2%.
Jack Menning, chief UK economist at Barclays, described the figures as “not a very positive picture, but it is ahead of where we were at the end of last year.”
“Industrials and manufacturing have been weak over the last few prints, and you would expect some bounce back from that eventually,” Manning told CNBC's “Squawk Box Europe” on Wednesday.
“It's good to see this, but we'll have to see it on a longer basis to know it's something sustainable.”
the British pound It remained flat against U.S. dollar And the euro After release.
