UK economy grew faster than anticipated after Covid spending at the end of 2021
The UK economy grew faster than anticipated in the last three months of 2021 as a frenzy of health sector activity masked inflation’s impact on household incomes.
Gross domestic product (GDP) increased 1.3 per cent in the fourth quarter from the previous three-month period.
The Office for National Statistics had previously provided an estimate of one per cent growth.
Health and social work made up the largest contributions to the increase amid the Omicron coronavirus wave last winter.
This included more visits to doctors at the start of the quarter, a surge in Covid testing and tracing and the rollout of the vaccination programme.
The level of GDP is now 0.1 per cent below where it was pre-coronavirus at the fourth quarter of 2019, revised from a previous estimate of 0.4 per cent below.