Bright Future: London’s Sky and UK’s Economy Take Flight in February 2024

On February 15, 2024, London’s sky over Regent Street was dotted with plane contrails. The contrails streaked across the sky, creating a beautiful view that was captured by Dan Kitwood of Getty Images.

The Office for National Statistics recently reported that the U.K.’s gross domestic product increased by 0.1% in February. This growth rate aligns with the projections made in a Reuters poll. However, on an annual basis, GDP was down by 0.2%. Despite this slight decrease, the increase in GDP is a positive sign for the U.K.’s economy, which has been facing sluggish economic growth this year.

In the third and fourth quarters of 2023, the U.K.’s economy contracted resulting in a technical recession. January recorded slight growth that was revised upwards to 0.3% on Friday. While construction output initially boosted growth at the beginning of the year but decreased by 1.9% in February, production output contributed significantly to GDP growth, rising by 1.1% in February.

The dominant services sector experienced a slowdown in growth and decreased from 0.3% to just 0.1%. Analysts believe that these numbers indicate that the recession has come to an end as they anticipate a stronger economic recovery compared to other forecasts, although it might not be strong enough to prevent inflation rates from falling further as seen in the U