"With the UK sliding to last place in the G7 economic leaderboard for 2017, early indications are that 2018 is off to a slow start too. "
This is a 0.1% downward revision from the ONS's preliminary estimate of GDP growth, in part reflecting a small downward revision to the estimated output of the production industries.
GDP was also downgraded on an annual basis, increasing by 1.7% between 2016 and 2017 - a downward revision of 0.1% from the preliminary estimate and slightly lower than the 1.9% growth seen between 2015 and 2016.
The data shows that household spending grew by 1.8% between 2016 and 2017, its slowest rate of annual growth since 2012, in part reflecting increased prices faced by consumers.
John Dolan, senior dealer at forex specialists FEXCO Corporate Payments, commented: “The unexpected slowdown in UK growth has been a reality check for Poundwatchers, and suddenly made Mark Carney’s hawkish tone sound discordant.
“With the UK sliding to last place in the G7 economic leaderboard for 2017, early indications are that 2018 is off to a slow start too.
“With real wages continuing to slide in the face of stubbornly high inflation, weak retail sales figures and stagnant levels of business investment, the Bank of England Governor’s talk of two interest rate rises this year is rightly being called into question.
“Mr Carney’s uncharacteristically hawkish display earlier this month already looks anachronistic. The Bank of England cannot allow itself to raise rates too soon for fear of sabotaging Britain’s already sputtering economic growth.
“The Governor is at risk of being overtaken by events here. Just two weeks after he fanned rate rise expectations that helped lift sterling, currency markets are rapidly reassessing and the Pound is feeling the strain.
“To be fair, the Pound’s rally against the Greenback in January was driven by Dollar weakness rather than sterling strength, but this latest demonstration of the fragility of UK economic growth is set to pull the rug from under the Pound.”
