UK out of recession

GDP has exceeded expectations of growth, forecast to be closer to 0.6%, pulling the economy out of a double-dip recession.

But the size of the economy remains unchanged compared to a year earlier even with the benefit of the Olympics which added 0.2% to the level of GDP.

Excluding the ticket sales impact the economy has grown by 0.4% in total over the last two quarters, an average rate of 0.2% a quarter.

A spokesman from the Office of National Statistics said that beyond the effect of ticket sales it was hard to put an exact figure on the Olympic effect, although it said hotel and restaurant activity had increased in London and there had been a strong performance from employment agencies.

The positive growth figures follow three successive quarters of contraction.

Not all sectors produced positive growth figures – output in the construction industry fell by 2.5% however this was less that in the previous two quarters.

Output from the services sector led the way with growth figures of 1.3%, the strongest quarterly growth for five years.

And the production industries grew by 1.1% contributing 0.2 percentage points to GDP growth in the latest quarter.