UK: GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT, PRELIMINARY ESTIMATE, Q4 2014

By Unic Staff. LONDON, United Kingdom. The Office for National Statistics (ONS), UK’s largest independent producer of official statistics, has released preliminary estimates for last quarter of 2014.

The key points on the estimates announced by the ONS included: Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the main indicator of economic growth, is estimated to have increased by 0.5% in Q4 2014 compared with growth of 0.7% in Q3 2014; output increased in two of the four main industrial groupings within the economy in Q4 2014; in order of their contribution, output increased by 0.8% in services and 1.3% in agriculture; in contrast, output decreased by 1.8% in construction and 0.1% in production; GDP was 2.7% higher in Q4 2014 compared with the same quarter a year ago; GDP in 2014 as a whole was up 2.6% on 2013; and in Q4 2014, the GDP was estimated to have been 3.4% higher than the pre-economic downturn peak of Q1 2008.

In response to the publication, George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, said: “…figures confirm that the recovery is on track and our plan is protecting Britain from the economic storm, with the fastest growth of any major economy in 2014. But the international climate is getting worse, and with 100 days to go until the election now is not the time to abandon that plan and return Britain to economic chaos.”

Ed Balls, Labour party’s shadow chancellor, said: “…growth figures are welcome and long overdue after three damaging years of flat lining. But, for working people facing a cost-of-living crisis, this is still no recovery at all.”

James Knightley of ING bank, said: “Employment continues to rise robustly, housing activity is very firm, confidence is on the rise, credit growth is improving and the UK’s key export market – the eurozone – is showing some encouraging signs. Consequently, we believe that the economy can post GDP growth of 3% this year.”

The figures are mere preliminary estimates, based on early submissions and are subject to revision. ONS said: “The preliminary estimate of GDP is produced using the output approach to measuring GDP. At this stage, data content is less than half of the total required for the final output estimate. The estimate is subject to revision as more data become available, but these revisions are typically small between the preliminary and third estimates of GDP.”