Fact Service October 2014

Issue 39

Economic growth better than thought

UK economic growth has been revised up to 0.9% for the second quarter of the year by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), against the previous estimate of 0.8%.

However, the ONS also revised its estimate of growth in the first quarter of the year down to 0.7% from an earlier estimate of 0.8%.

UK gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated to have been 3.2% higher in the second quarter compared with a year earlier.

Revised ONS figures also show the UK economy surpassed its pre-recession peak in the third quarter of last year. Previously, this was thought to have been achieved in the second quarter of 2014.

The figures from the ONS include a new methodology for calculating gross domestic product (GDP). The new measure includes factors such as spending on research and development, as well as the economic contribution made by drug dealers and prostitutes.

The ONS now estimates that GDP was 2.7% higher than its pre-crisis peak by the end of the second quarter this year.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29422267

www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_376723.pdf