UK economy grows 0.1% in August, against forecasts of a contraction

UK GDP growth in August

0.1 %

Britain's gross domestic product rose 0.1 per cent in August from the month before; analysts had expected a 0.1 per cent contraction. It is still a slowdown from 0.4 per cent growth in July.

"There is a bit of a divergence going on within the economy, with businesses performing well (partly due to AI-related spending) while households are becoming more circumspect," said Paul Dales, chief UK economist at Capital Economics.

— Paul Dales, Capital Economics

The Office for National Statistics said computer programming was again the largest contributor to growth, and GDP grew 0.7 per cent in the three months to August.

London, UK budget

Healey presents the budget on Oct 28 and has pledged strict fiscal discipline, as Prime Minister Andy Burnham's Labour government faces rising inflation and multi-decade highs in bond yields. Healey has not said whether taxes will rise.