Fears of what has made headlines as a “triple dip” recession in the United Kingdom (UK) have been allayed. The Office for National Statistics announced Thursday morning that the preliminary estimate of gross domestic product (GDP) shows an increase of 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2013.
In the days leading up to the announcement, experts prepared Britons for the worst, and warned them that consumer fear would only make things worse if the U.K. was in a recession.
Recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of economic deflation. In the fourth quarter of 2012, the GDP decreased by 0.3 percent.
If Thursday’s announcement had brought news of a first quarter deflation—and economists said it could go either way—it would have been the third recession in the U.K. since 2008, unprecedented.
As in previous quarters, the services sector has driven growth and the construction industry has declined. Service industries increased by 0.6 percent, contributing 0.47 percentage points to the GDP increase. Construction industries fell by 2.5 percent, detracting 0.17 percentage points from GDP growth.
Amid austerity cuts, which International Monetary Fund treasury chief George Osborne has urged the U.K. to ease up, and a declining credit rating—Fitch Ratings nudged the U.K. down from a triple-A to a double-A rating—GDP growth is welcome news for the government.
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