Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.
The UK economy has returned to growth as the economic damage caused by the Omicron variant faded.
UK GDP grew by 0.8% in January, faster than economists expected, after contracting 0.2% in December when ‘Plan B’ restrictions were introduced after the fast-spreading Covid-19 variant emerged.
New figures from the Office for National Statistics show that every sector grew in January, with services up 0.8%, production up 0.7% and construction up by 1.1%.
Customer-facing services companies saw a strong pick-up. The food and drink sector grew 6.8% in January, after the festive season was badly disrupted as parties were cancelled and more people worked from home in December.
Office for National Statistics (ONS)
(@ONS)
GDP grew 0.8% in January and is now 0.8% above its pre-pandemic peak.
Services…
