News
Economy experiences fastest growth in three years
25 - 10 - 2013
Gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.8 per cent between July and September, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS).
This growth was even greater than the 0.7 per cent increase achieved in the previous quarter and is the fastest the economy has advanced since 2010.
According to the ONS, there was ‘widespread growth’ in the latest quarter, with increases in each of the four main areas.
Output rose in agriculture (1.4 per cent), production (0.5 per cent), services (0.7 per cent) and construction (2.5 per cent). For the construction industry, it was the second successive quarter of growth after a changeable year.
‘This could signal that a recovery in that sector is really under way,’ said the BBC's chief economics correspondent, Hugh Pym.
‘Turning a corner’
Responding to the overall figures, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne tweeted: ‘This shows that Britain’s hard work is paying off & the country is on the path to prosperity.’
Prime Minister David Cameron, who also took to Twitter to respond to the news, said: ‘Today’s encouraging GDP growth figures are another sign we are turning a corner – building an economy for hardworking people.’
‘No recovery at all’
Shadow chancellor Ed Balls also welcomed the figures, hailing the growth as ‘long overdue’.
However, he remarked that ‘for millions of people across the country still seeing prices rising faster than their wages, this is no recovery at all.’
