Economic Indicators, February 2014
This Research Paper series summarises the main economic indicators currently available for the UK, along with comparisons with other major OECD countries.
Preliminary estimates suggest that GDP grew by 0.7% in Q4 2013. GDP grew in each quarter of 2013, the longest period of sustained growth since the year to Q3 2010.
Falling inflation (the CPI fell to 2.0% in December) and a faster than anticipated decline in unemployment (the rate fell to 7.1% in the quarter to November) raised expectations that the Bank of England would raise interest rates before the end of 2014. For now, interest rates remain unchanged at 0.5%.
After a year and a half of slowing growth in the value of retail sales, late 2013 saw a return to stronger growth. The three months to December saw the biggest increase compared with the previous year since March 2012.