- Next week’s data is expected to confirm that the economy is out of recession
- But can it stay that way?
Next Friday, first quarter gross domestic product (GDP) figures will be released. Taken in isolation, they will probably look relatively underwhelming: economists at KPMG expect 0.3 per cent growth over the quarter. But context is everything. The UK economy contracted by 0.1 per cent in Q3 of last year, and by 0.3 per cent in Q4. This means that next week’s figures should bring an end to a run of two consecutive quarters of negative growth, meaning the end of our “technical” recession.