London (AFP) – Activity in the UK rose slightly in August with a 0.2% increase in GDP, driven by the services sector, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Thursday.
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But analysts do not rule out the risk of recession.
The Office for National Statistics said that GDP contracted in July by 0.6%, a figure that was revised downwards.
“This means it is still difficult to determine whether the economy contracted in the third quarter,” said Martin Beck, economist at the EY ITEM Club.
At the end of September, the Office for National Statistics indicated that UK growth in the first quarter was 0.3%, higher than initial estimates. And from April to June, the second quarter, it was 0.2%.
This revised data estimates the UK grew by 1.8% since the last quarter of 2019, just before the Covid-19 pandemic, and the second quarter of this year, putting the country ahead of Germany (0.2%) and France (1.7%) in the index. Same period.
However, the government stressed that it was necessary to control inflation.
Last August, this indicator reached 6.7%, the highest level among the rich G7 countries.
Ruth Gregory, of Capital Economics, believes that the recovery in GDP in August “increases the chances of the economy surviving the recession,” but she expects a contraction of “0.2% in the third and fourth quarters.”
Two consecutive quarters of contraction represent a technical recession.
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