{"id":26786,"date":"2025-04-11T10:16:54","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T10:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/uk-economy-grew-more-than-expected-in-february\/"},"modified":"2025-04-11T10:16:54","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T10:16:54","slug":"uk-economy-grew-more-than-expected-in-february","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/uk-economy-grew-more-than-expected-in-february\/","title":{"rendered":"UK economy grew more than expected in February"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Charlotte Edwards<\/span><\/p>\n

Business reporter, BBC News<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"GettyGetty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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The UK economy grew by more than expected in February, according to the latest official figures.<\/p>\n

The economy expanded by 0.5%, with the services sector having a strong month, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.<\/p>\n

Economists had predicted growth of just 0.1%, but the ONS said several factors contributed to the surprise rise which was driven by a boost in manufacturing and production.<\/p>\n

The better-than-expected figures come as the UK economy braces itself for the impact of tariffs imposed on goods being imported to the US, with analysts warning that growth could prove short-lived.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The UK is subject to the blanket 10% tariff on nearly all of its goods being brought into the US, which is expected to hit British exporters and also affect economic growth.<\/p>\n

The government has made growing the UK economy<\/a> its top priority in its effort to improve living standards.<\/p>\n

Liz McKeown, director of economic statistics at the ONS, said February’s surprise growth was due to computer programming, telecoms and car dealerships in the services sector all having “strong months”.<\/p>\n

She added that manufacturing, electronics and pharmaceutical businesses performed well, and the car making industry also picked up after “its recent poor performance”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Chancellor Rachel Reeves called the latest growth figures an “encouraging sign”, but added the government was “not complacent”.<\/p>\n

“We must go further and faster to kickstart economic growth, provide security for working people and put more money in their pockets,” she added.<\/p>\n

She said the government would “remain pragmatic and cool-headed” in its efforts to secure a trade deal with the US.<\/p>\n

Alongside the better-than-expected growth, the ONS revised up its figure for January from a contraction of 0.1% to no growth.<\/p>\n

But February’s figure comes ahead of the impact of tax rises on businesses and household energy and water bill increases on the economy, along with US tariffs.<\/p>\n

Ruth Gregory, deputy chief UK economist, said the UK’s “surprisingly strong growth will prove short lived, as rises in tariffs and taxes bite”.<\/p>\n

“The big picture is that the economy has grown in only four of the last nine months and it’s hard to see the economy strengthening much from here,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Mitchell<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Mitchell Barnes is now planning on taking on fewer staff than he had hoped to<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Mitchell Barnes runs a 3D printing company in Warwickshire, designing and manufacturing parts for the automotive industry.<\/p>\n

Half of the parts made here are exported to the US. <\/p>\n

But rather than Trump tariffs, he says it’s domestic factors that are hitting his business.<\/p>\n

Mr Barnes says this month’s changes to National Insurance contributions and the minimum wage mean he may need to rethink his plan to create new jobs at the site.<\/p>\n

He had hoped to increase the number of staff from 27 to 100 over the next 18 months, but has now lowered that to between 30 to 40.<\/p>\n

The business is now looking to accelerate plans to expand in the United States instead. “Ultimately, for us, it’s all about innovating in order to control our own destiny.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Additional reporting by Adam Woods<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charlotte Edwards Business reporter, BBC News Getty Images The UK economy grew by more than expected in February, according to the latest official figures. The economy expanded by 0.5%, with the services sector having a strong month, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Economists had predicted growth of just 0.1%, but the ONS said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[540,321,1055,6013],"class_list":["post-26786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","tag-economy","tag-expected","tag-february","tag-grew"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26786"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26788,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26786\/revisions\/26788"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}