Photo: ANP
However, the British economy grew in the first quarter of this year. The UK suffered strikes in many sectors during that period and car sales have been historically low, reports UK statistics agency ONS. In March, this led to a contraction of the economy, while a minimum growth of 0.1 percent was still recorded for the whole quarter.
March led to an unexpected contraction of 0.3 percent. Analysts were still expecting slight growth, in line with the rest of the quarter. The services sector had a bad month and store sales were also disappointing. March was a cold month, but strikes by railway workers, nurses and civil servants also had an effect.
The outlook for May is not the most positive. Because of the coronation of British King Charles, there was an additional public holiday, which, according to economists’ calculations, could lead to a contraction of 0.7 percent in May. Regardless, the economic outlook is now slightly more positive than it was during the previous year. Just as in the Netherlands, the unrest related to energy, among other things, has subsided somewhat.
