This increase represents the first quarter-on-quarter growth figure for any quarter not affected by a special event since 2011 quarter three when GDP increased by 0.6 percent compared with the previous quarter and is above the 0.3 percent fall shown in the final quarter of 2012.
The main contributors to the increase in GDP in the latest quarter were: changes in inventories, including the alignment adjustment, which increased by £2.5 billion in volume terms and; household final consumption expenditure, which increased by 0.1 percent. Consumer spending rose at its weakest pace since the third quarter of 2011.
Output in Britain's service sector - which makes up more than three quarters of GDP - rose 0.6 percent in the first quarter after flat-lining in the last three months of 2012. Exports fell 0.8 percent while imports dropped less, by 0.5 percent.
