"Robust consumer spending growth has supported the economic expansion throughout 2016, but there are now signs that this support is beginning to soften."
This follows growth of 0.8% in the three months ending in January.
NIESR’s latest quarterly forecast published last month projected GDP growth of 2% per annum for 2016 and 1.7% in 2017.
Rebecca Piggott, research fellow at NIESR, said: "Our estimates suggest the economy expanded by 0.6 per cent in the three months ending in February 2017.
"Robust consumer spending growth has supported the economic expansion throughout 2016, but there are now signs that this support is beginning to soften.
"Consumer price inflation is expected to continue to increase throughout the rest of 2017, further reducing the contribution from consumer spending to economic growth."
