The United Kingdom’s economy is continuing its recovery from last year’s recession with official government figures showing that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose by 0.6% for the quarter lasting from April until June. Falling in line with economists’ forecasts, this rise in GDP follows a 0.7% rise over the first quarter.
“The U.K. economy has now grown strongly for two quarters, following the weakness we saw in the second half of last year,” Liz McKeown, the director of economic statistics at the Office for National Statistics announced. Growth was primarily spurred on by the service sector, in particular, technology, legal services, and scientific research. This is a strong turnaround from the end of 2023, when the services sector stumbled and UK GDP contracted by 0.3%. Industrial production and construction also faltered.
While the service sector strengthened in the second quarter, the film and TV industry stumbled as UK production schedules continued to be disrupted as a result of last year’s strikes by the Screen Actors Guild in the US. Despite the recent economic uptick, analysts are expecting it to slow in the coming months, with the service industry expected to contract by 0.1%.