UK's economy ekes out only 0.1% growth in Q4

Britain's economy ​barely grew in ​the final quarter of 2025 as ​activity fared worse than initially estimated during the run-up to finance minister Rachel Reeves' budget, official figures showed ‌on ⁠Thursday.

Gross domestic ⁠product grew by 0.1% in the October-to-December period, ​the same slow pace as in the third quarter, ​the Office for National Statistics said.

Economists polled by Reuters, as well as the ​Bank of England, had forecast ⁠0.2% fourth-quarter ‌growth compared with the previous three ​months.


Manufacturing ​was the biggest driver of ⁠the increase in output while the dominant ​services sector was flat. Construction output contracted ​by 2.1%.

In 2025 as a whole, Britain's economy grew by an annual average 1.3%, the Office for National Statistics said, compared with 0.9% in France, 0.7% ‌in Italy and 0.4% in Germany.

Economic growth per head contracted by ​0.1% for ​a second quarter, ⁠although rose by 1.0% for 2025 as a whole.

In December alone, the economy grew ​by 0.1%, the ONS said, as expected in a the Reuters poll. That left the size of the economy back at its level of June 2025.