The UK economy grew at the start of the year, after contracting in the previous month, led by the strong recovery in the services sector, preliminary figures from the Office for National Statistics showed Friday.
Monthly gross domestic product rose 0.3 percent from December when it shrank 0.5 percent. That beat economists' expectations for a modest 0.1 percent growth. GDP was flat in the three months to January. "Underlying volatility in the data means that GDP is effectively flatlining," ING economist James Smith said.
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June 19, 2026 16:46 ET Major central banks continued to dominate the economic news flow this week too, led by the Federal Reserve, as they announced their latest policy decisions. The Federal Reserve policy session was in focus as it was the first to be led by the new chief Kevin Warsh. In Europe, central banks of the U.K. and Switzerland announced their rate decisions. In Asia, the Bank of Japan drew attention for its policy moves, while data out of China threw some light on the state of the economy.