U.K. Q1 Growth Confirmed At 0.4%

(RTTNews) - The U.K. economy expanded as initially estimated in the first quarter, the second estimates from the Office for National Statistics showed Thursday.

Gross domestic product grew 0.4 percent in the first quarter from previous three months, unrevised from the estimate published on April 27. It was slower than the 0.6 percent expansion posted in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Nonetheless, this was the 13th consecutive quarter of positive growth since first quarter of 2013.

On a yearly basis, GDP climbed 2 percent instead of 2.1 percent estimated previously.

On the production side, construction output fell by 1 percent, revised from 0.9 percent. The dominant service industries output grew 0.6 percent as estimated.

At the same time, production output decreased by unrevised 0.4 percent.

Another report showed that business investment decreased 0.5 percent sequentially in the first quarter. On a yearly basis, investment fell 0.4 percent.

The index of services grew 2.6 percent in March from last year as all the main components of the services industries increased from the previous year. The largest contribution to total growth came from business services and finance.