Did the UK leave its recession behind in 2023?

The economy grew by 0.1 per cent in February: not much to celebrate on its own but the small uptick in GDP all but confirms that the UK is leaving its recession in 2023.

February wasn’t a booming month: services output only grew by 0.1 per cent, with transportation and storage services contributing the most to the sector’s growth (the former seeing its biggest boost since June 2020). The construction sector decreased by 1.9 per cent in volume terms, as the ‘fourth wettest February on record in England’ delayed projects. But a bounceback in production – the ‘largest contributor to the growth in GDP’ that month – provided some balance: overall production output grew by 1.1 per cent in February, recovering from a 0.3 per cent fall the previous month.

As has been the case since Britain’s initial pandemic recovery, the month-on-month GDP update remains lacklustre. But even slight growth in February, combined with an upward revision of January’s figures from 0.2