UK GDP Growth Weakens In February

The UK economy posted a meagre growth in February, the Office for National Statistics reported Friday.

Real gross domestic product edged up 0.1 percent on a monthly basis in February, following a revised 0.3 percent expansion in January. The growth came in line with expectations.

In February, services output growth softened to 0.1 percent from 0.3 percent. Meanwhile, industrial production was the largest contributor to the growth, which climbed 1.1 percent, reversing a revised 0.3 percent fall.

Partially offsetting these gains, construction output fell 1.9 percent, reversing an unrevised 1.1 percent growth in January.

On a yearly basis, GDP posted a decline of 0.2 percent in February, which was better than economists' forecast of 0.4 percent contraction.

In three months to February, real GDP gained 0.2 percent from three months to November.

Another report from the ONS showed that the visible trade deficit widened moderately to GBP 14.2 billion in February from GBP 14.1 billion in January. At the same time, the surplus on services trade remained broadly unchanged at GBP 11.9 billion.

As a result, the total trade gap came in at GBP 2.3 billion compared to a deficit of GBP 2.2 billion in January.

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