Data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that the economy expanded by 0.1% in February, as expected, after growing by 0.3% in January (revised +0.2%).
Services output grew by 0.1% in February, following a rise of 0.3% in January (revised up from 0.2%), with 8 of the 14 subsectors showing growth in February. The largest positive contribution at the subsector level in services came from transportation and storage, which rose by 2.6% in the month. The largest negative contribution to services growth came from wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, falling by 0.5% in February. Output in consumer-facing services fell by 0.1% in February, following a rise of 0.7% in January 2024 (revised up from 0.6%). The main drivers to the fall were falls of 2.1% in accommodation and 0.8% in food and beverage service activities. The main offsetting movement came from the other personal service activities industry, which grew by 0.7% in February. Production output is estimated to have grown by 1.1% in February, following a fall of 0.3% in January 2024 (revised down from a 0.2% fall). Economists had expected production to remain unchanged. Mining and quarrying output was the only subsector that contributed negatively to production output in February, falling by 0.8% in the month. Manufacturing output rose by 1.2% in February, with widespread growth in 11 of the 13 subsectors. The largest contributor to this growth was the manufacture of transport equipment, which rose by 3.7% in February 2024.
Meanwhile, from December to February, real GDP grew by 0.2% compared to the previous three-month period (through November). Services output was the main contributor, with a growth of 0.2% in this period, while production output rose by 0.7% and construction fell by 1.0%.
In annual terms, GDP fell in February by 0.2% after a 0.3% decline in January (revised from -0.1%). Economists had expected a decrease of 0.4%. GDP is estimated to have fallen by 0.1% in the three months to February 2024 compared with the three months to February 2023.