Britain economy avoids triple-dip recession

Britain has avoid a triple-dip recession as its quarterly economic output for the first three months of this year increased by 0.3 percent according to official data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday.

The better-than-expected figure indicates that Britain has managed to avoid two consecutive quarters of contraction which would put the country into recession.

According to the ONS data, the British economy registered a 0.6-percent rise when compared with the first quarter of 2012, the strongest year on year growth since the end of 2011.

The figures indicate that the economy has been "broadly flat" over the last 18 months, the ONS said.

Growth was mainly driven by the service sector though construction remained in the doldrums.

The ONS figures showed service industries increased by 0.6 percent, contributing 0.47 percentage points to the 0.3 percent increase in GDP.

There was also a small upward contribution to GDP from industrial production, which rose by 0.2 percent, largely due to mining and quarrying, which increased by 3.2 percent following a weak performance in the last quarter of 2012 when extended maintenance in the North Sea reduced output.

But the upward contributions were partially offset by construction sector, which fell by 2.5 percent in the same period, reducing GDP growth by 0.17 percentage points.

The ONS held that the snowfall and cold weather during first three months of this year appears to have had a limited impact on GDP growth.

"The strongest evidence was that it reduced retail output in January and March 2013 but boosted demand for electricity and gas in February and March, which increased output in the energy supply industries," it said.

The economic improvement was good news for British Finance Minister George Osborne who has been under the pressure from the International Monetary Fund to consider scaling back his austerity program.

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