British GDP grows 0.8% in Q1 2014

Britain's gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2014 grew by 0.8 percent, compared with growth of 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter last year, data by Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed Tuesday. Compared with the same quarter a year ago, however, British GDP was 3.1 higher in the first quarter of 2014, data showed. Output of construction in Britain last quarter increased by 0.3 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2013, while production and services industry output grew by 0.8 and 0.9 percent respectively. However, agriculture output decreased by 0.7 percent, said ONS. The current 2010-based weights of the four industries' outputs are 77.8 percent (services), 15.2 percent (production), 6.3 percent (construction) and 0.7 percent (agriculture) respectively. In the first quarter of 2014, British GDP was estimated to be 0.6 percent below the peak in the first quarter of 2008, said ONS. From its peak to its lowest point in 2009, the economy shrank by 7.2 percent.