The UK economy grew by 0.3 percent in January, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has found.
The new figures mean that GDP has returned to growth in 2023 following several rocky months that led it to stall in the final quarter of 2022, with a noted 0.5 percent contraction in December.
The Government will likely count the figures as a win, with less than one week to go until Jeremy Hunt delivers his spring budget.
ONS officials have warned, however, that the economy continues to stagnate following several months of poor performance.
The 0.3 percent growth shows a “partial” bounceback from recent stagnation, but according to Darren Morgan, the ONS director of economic statistics.
Considering the year as a whole, the UK’s economy has not grown, he said.
Mr Morgan said: “Across the last three months as a whole and, indeed over the last 12 months, the economy has, though, showed zero growth.
“The main drivers of January’s growth were the return of children to classrooms, following unusually high absences in the run-up to Christmas, the Premier League clubs returned to a full schedule after the end of the World Cup and private health providers also had a strong month.
“Postal services also partially recovered from the effects of December’s strikes.”
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