"It is more evidence that our long-term economic plan is working. But the job is not done, and it is clear that the biggest risk now to the recovery would be abandoning the plan that's delivering jobs and a brighter economic future."
- George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Sterling weakened from its almost two-and-a-half year high against the U.S. Dollar on Tuesday after the report from ONS showed British economy expanded in line with analysts forecasts. Britain's economy is now definitely can be called one of the fastest growing developed economies in the world, with a 0.7% expansion in the final quarter, ending the best year since 2007 amid rapid growth in industrial and key services sectors.
The growth follows a 0.8% expansion in the previous quarter. On a yearly basis the economy grew 2.8% compared with the same quarter in the previous year, significantly accelerating from the previous quarter's growth of 1.9%. The improvement was mostly driven by a key services sector that accounts almost 78% of the total GDP, which added 0.8%, contributing to the quarterly GDP growth with 0.61%. Moreover, industrial sector registered stronger output, which climbed 0.7% over the period. Even though the overall GDP growth came in line with forecasts and did not surprised markets to the upside, they reflect what we have been hearing for some time–companies across the country are growing even more bullish about their future prospects.
According to the latest projections from the IMF, the U.K. economy will expand 2.4% this year and lose some of its momentum in 2015, expanding 2.2%.
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