UK economy shows 1.3% stronger-than-expected growth in fourth quarter

A faster-than-previously-thought economic growth was registered by the pandemic-hampered U.K. economy during the fourth quarter of 2020, according to the official data released on Wednesday.

Based on the data released by the National Statistics, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded 1.3% in the last quarter of the year 2020. It beat the 1.0% growth forecast projected by the government data office.

The entirety of 2020’s GDP slipped by 9.8%, barely hitting the 9.9% slump initial estimate, which was also the biggest decline in more than 300 years.

OECD data has revealed that the U.K. was the economy that had the biggest contraction in 2020 among all countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development save for Argentina and Spain.

The Office of National Statistics also reported Britain’s current account deficit at 26.3 billion pounds in the fourth quarter, nearly twice the deficit recorded in the third quarter.