What's going on?

Data out on Friday showed that the British economy grew last quarter, despite March being a royal pain.

What does this mean?

March turned out to be a tricky month for the British economy. Strikes across education, transport, and health sectors put a damper on output, and even the generally dependable appeal of shiny new number plates failed to rev up car sales. Still, it wasn�t all bad news: industrial production picked up some of the slack, partly offsetting a slump in the service sector � and January and February were far sunnier, with services, manufacturing, and construction all in the green. That meant the UK managed to scrape by with growth of 0.1% for the quarter as a whole, despite an unexpected 0.3% dropoff from February to March. That�s not quite a home run,�but hey: it beats shrinking.

Why should I care?

Zooming in: Close call.
That quarterly performance outstripped the Bank of England�s predictions � a nice little surprise, especially after the authority recently scrapped its recession forecast for the year. See, the central bank�s now betting on modest growth of 0.25% for 2023, a much happier outlook than the shrinkage of 0.5% it previously expected. But remember, the quarter ended with a weak March � so despite improvements to supply chains, consumer confidence, and energy prices, the country�s still on shaky ground.�

The bigger picture: Good omen.
The UK is lagging behind its pals, with its economy (0.5% smaller than in pre-pandemic days) sitting right at the bottom of the Group of Seven nations ever since Covid hit. And while almost no growth isn�t really much to celebrate, the nation�s recent performance could be a good sign for other countries: after all, if the truly hard-hit UK manages to sidestep a recession, then there�s probably hope for its less-troubled peers too.