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Roundup: Britain's GDP grows 0.5 pct in Q4 2014

Xinhua, January 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

Britain's gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of 2014 grew by 0.5 percent, compared with growth of 0.7 percent in the third quarter of this year, data by Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed Tuesday.

The figures also showed GDP was 2.7 percent higher in Q4 2014 compared with the same quarter a year ago. GDP in 2014 as a whole was up 2.6 percent on 2013.

Only two main industries' output increased in Q4 2014. Output increased by 0.8 percent in services and 1.3 percent in agriculture. In contrast, output decreased by 1.8 percent in construction and 0.1 percent in production, said ONS.

The current 2011-based weights of the four industries' outputs are 78.4 percent (services), 14.6 percent (production), 6.4 percent (construction), and 0.6 percent (agriculture) respectively.

The figures also showed the economy in Q4 2014 was now 3.4 percent above its pre-crisis peak in the first quarter of 2008.

George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer of Britain, said Britain's economic recovery was on track, and the economic plan is protecting Britain from the economic storm. The 2.6 percent growth in 2014 was better than other major economies.

Osborne also said the international climate was getting worse and the Britain election is coming in 100 days, "it's not the time to abandon plan."

"While the preliminary estimate of Q4 GDP brings further evidence that the Britain's economic recovery lost a little pace towards the end of the last year," said Samuel Tombs, the senior Britain economist in Capital Economics, a London-based economic research company.

"Nonetheless, with the recent halving of oil prices providing a timely boost to households' discretionary spending power, credit still becoming cheaper and pay growth on an improving trend, we think that GDP growth could pick up to 3 percent this year," said Tombs. Enditem