UK economy reviving with 0.7 per cent growth

THE British economy has grown 0.7 per cent in the second quarter of 2015, a healthy jump on the year’s slower start. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the GDP per head of population in the UK was now “broadly equal” to pre-crisis levels.
Chancellor George Osborne said the figure “shows Britain motoring ahead with the economy producing as much per head as ever before.”
Growth is not spread evenly across sectors, though, with the services sector leading the way at 0.7 per cent growth. Manufacturing output fell 0.3 per cent between April and June, affected badly by the strong pound against the weak euro. However, a big boost in oil and gas production in the North Sea has seen overall figures for industry up one per cent.
The information, which comes from an initial analysis of figures, economists due to release definitive statistics for the quarter in around a month’s time, is fuelling calls for an increase in interest rates, which have been kept low for five years.