Feb 12 (Reuters) – Britain’s economy barely grew in the final quarter of 2025 as activity fared worse than initially estimated during the run-up to finance minister Rachel Reeves’ budget, official figures showed on Thursday.
Gross domestic product grew by 0.1% in the October-to-December period, the same slow pace as in the third quarter, the Office for National Statistics said.
Economists polled by Reuters, as well as the Bank of England, had forecast 0.2% fourth-quarter growth compared with the previous three months.
Manufacturing was the biggest driver of the increase in output while the dominant services sector was flat. Construction output contracted by 2.1%.
In 2025 as a whole, Britain’s economy grew by an annual average 1.3%, the Office for National Statistics said, compared with 0.9% in France, 0.7% in Italy and 0.4% in Germany.
Economic growth per head contracted by 0.1% for a second quarter, although rose by 1.0% for 2025 as a whole.
In December alone, the economy grew by 0.1%, the ONS said, as expected in a the Reuters poll. That left the size of the economy back at its level of June 2025.
(Reporting by Andy BruceEditing by William Schomberg)
