London: British gross domestic product in the second quarter of 2023 was 0.2 per cent higher than the month before, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed on Friday.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a reading showing quarterly growth of 0.2 per cent, unchanged from an initial estimate published on August 11.
The economy as a whole in the second quarter of 2023 was 1.8 per cent larger than in the final quarter of 2019, the last full quarter before the start of the pandemic.
This represented a revision from the most recent previous ONS estimate, on August 11, that the economy was still 0.2 per cent smaller than before the pandemic, which had placed it at the bottom of the table among major advanced economies.
An upward revision to the size of Britain’s economy had been widely expected, after the ONS published preliminary revisions on Sepember 1 suggesting the economy was already 0.6 per cent larger than its pre-pandemic size in the final quarter of 2021.
That revision left Britain’s initial economic recovery from the pandemic looking similar to France’s and Italy’s.
Britain’s relative economic performance since the pandemic and its departure from the European Union has been a focus of political debate, especially with a national election likely next year.
