UK economy grows by 0.4% in May; households face £94 water bill increase over next five years
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.
England are through to the final in the euro men’s football tournament, and the UK economy has returned to growth.
In other news, the average water bill is set to rise by £94 over the next five years, the water regulator Ofwat said.
The 21% increase, or £19 a year on average, is intended to fund investment at water companies for improvements such as fixing leaking pipes and tackling the discharge of sewage into rivers and seas. Is is lower than water companies had asked for.
The UK economy grew by 0.4% in May after showing no growth in April, resuming its recovery from last year’s recession, according to official figures.
April was a very wet month, putting consumers off from spending on the high street.
The outcome is better than the 0.2% growth forecast by econommists.
GDP grew by 0.9% in the three months to May compared with the the three months to February, driven by 1.1% expansion in services output, according to the Office for National Statistics.
In May alone, services output rose by 0.3%, the same rate as in April (revised up from 0.2%), and was the biggest contributor to growth.
Production output grew by 0.2% in May following a drop of 0.9% in April, and posted zero growth in the three months to May.
Construction output grew by 1.9% in May, following a fall of 1.1% in April (revised higher from a fall of 1.4%), and declined by 0.7% in the three months to May.
GDP grew 0.4% in May 2024. Services (+0.3%), production (+0.2%) and construction (+1.9%) all grew on the month.
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) July 11, 2024
Read the release ➡️ https://t.co/Txf0zBQFiU pic.twitter.com/zr4cORpL3r
The Agenda
1.30pm BST: US Inflation for June (forecast: 3.1%), core inflation (forecast: 3.4%)
1.30pm BST: US jobless claims