London (dpa-AFX) – The British economy expanded at a faster pace in November, underpinned by services activity, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed on Friday.
Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.9 per cent month-on-month in November, faster than the revised 0.2-per-cent expansion registered in October and the economists’ forecast of 0.4 per cent.
GDP was estimated to be above its pre-coronavirus pandemic level for the first time, by 0.7 per cent.
In November, there was an increase in output in all sectors, with services output the main driver of GDP growth. Services output grew by 0.7 per cent.
Production output increased 1.0 per cent from last month. This followed two consecutive months of negative growth, with a fall of 0.5 per cent in October and a decrease of 0.7 per cent in September.
Manufacturing was the largest contributor to production growth in November, increasing by 1.1 per cent. At the same time, construction output grew 3.5 per cent, following a fall of 1.7 per cent in October.
In a separate communique, the ONS said the visible trade deficit declined to 11.34 billion pounds (15.6 billion dollars) in November from 11.81 billion pounds in October. In November, exports grew 8.5 per cent and imports climbed 4.9 per cent.
The surplus on services trade totaled 11.96 billion pounds, largely unchanged from the previous month. Consequently, the total trade surplus increased moderately to 626 million pounds, from 151 million pounds a month ago.