UK sees quarterly GDP grow by 0.2%

Based on figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), this has resulted in the level of quarterly GDP being 0.2% below the pre-Covid level at the end of 2019. However there has been a 0.4% increase when compared to the same period in 2022.  

Broken down by Month, GDP is estimated to have grown by 0.5% in June – following a fall of 0.1% in May and growth of 0.2% in April. Focusing specifically on the drop seen in May, the ONS said the additional bank holiday as a result of the King’s coronation played a role in this decrease.  

Turning to the implied price of GDP, this rose by 2.1% in the second quarter of 2023 – primarily driven by higher pressures for both household and government consumption.

Meanwhile, both the services and production sectors saw their output grow between April and June – increasing by 0.1% and 0.7% respectively. However, while it did see some slight growth, the performance of the service sub-sectors were mixed with the increases seen in nine out of the 14 sub-sectors almost all but offsetting the falls in the other five.  

The largest positive contribution to growth was from the information and communication sub-sector, which grew one percent, with the biggest increases in motion picture, video and TV programme production, as well as computer programming, consultancy and related activities. The next largest contributor was from accommodation and food activities, driven by mainly food beverage service.  

These increases were, however, offset by a one percent drop in professional, scientific and technical activities which saw falls in scientific research and development, architectural and engineering work, and advertising and market research.

As for the 0.7% in production output, this was mainly driven by an increase of 1.6% in manufacturing – with eight out of the 13 sub-sectors seeing some form of growth.