Economy slows at end of last year


GDP growth for the final quarter of 2015 was unrevised at 0.5%, official figures show.


Two of the four main output industrial groupings within GDP showed increases in fourth quarter 2015 compared with previous quarter, with production and construction falling in this period.


The quarter-on-quarter decrease in the production output at 0.5% in the fourth quarter has been revised down 0.3 percentage points from the previously published estimate. Within the production sub-industries, manufacturing (the largest component of production) remained flat.


The service industries, which now account for over three-quarters of the economy, increased by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, unrevised from the previous estimate, marking the twelfth consecutive quarter of positive growth.


In the fourth quarter 2015, GDP was 1.9% higher than in the same period in 2014. 


On annual basis, GDP in 2015 was 2.2% higher than 2014. The annual rise for 2014 was 2.9%.


www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/bulletins/secondestimateofgdp/quarter4octtodec2015