Britain's first GDP numbers of 2016 were bang in line

Britain's economy grew by 0.4% in the first quarter of 2016, according to the first estimate of GDP from the Office for National Statistics. That number met the forecasts of economists, but was down from the 0.6% in the final quarter of 2015.

The ONS released its preliminary estimates of GDP for the first quarter of 2016 on Wednesday and the quarterly number was bang in line with forecasts. On a year-by-year basis, GDP just beat expectations, growing by 2.1%, compared to 2% forecast.

Figures for the first quarter represent a 13th consecutive quarter of positive growth for the UK economy.

Here's the chart showing the UK's long term growth trend:

ONS

Last month the ONS released its third and final set of GDP figures and the numbers were better than expected. For the year, growth was up 2.1%, up from the previous estimate of 1.9%, while quarterly growth was 0.6%, up from 0.5% at previous estimates.