UK GDP revised up in fourth quarter 2010
The UK economy contracted by slightly less in the final three months of 2010 than originally estimated, due to upward revisions to a range of sectors.
The Office for National Statistics revised fourth-quarter GDP growth upwards to an 0.5 per cent fall, up from its most recent previous estimate of -0.6 per cent.
The new figure is still the biggest decline since the second quarter of 2009, though.
The annual rate of growth was unrevised at 1.5 per cent.
The ONS said the coldest December in 100 years had knocked 0.5 percentage points off UK GDP, and that growth would have been flat without the adverse weather.
The services sector and the construction sector both suffered their biggest contractions since the second quarter of 2009, when Britain’s economy was deep in recession. House hold expenditure also suffered its biggest fall since then.
However, industrial output grew at its fastest pace since the second quarter of 2010.