The ONS has reported that the UK’s economy was 2.7% larger in the second quarter of this year than the pre-crisis peak. The findings were announced after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) completed the largest national accounts revision for a generation.
According to official statistics, the economy’s upward trend indicates an end to the recession in the second quarter of last year, whilst reports by the ONS have suggested that the recovery has been faster than previously estimated. It is now thought that the UK economy expanded 0.9% between April and July of 2014.
Meanwhile, economists at Warwick Business School have calculated that the GDP for the second quarter of 2014 was in fact 0.4% higher than ONS estimates – which placed it at 3.2%.
Dr Galvao, associate professor of economic modelling and forecasting, said: “Our central estimate is that growth in 2014 Q2, compared to a year earlier, is expected to be 3.6% rather than the 3.2% as currently estimated by the ONS.
“In a few years’ time, we expect to be looking back at the 2010 to 2014 recovery period through an even rosier lens.
“The estimates will inevitably be revised. We should therefore expect the economic history of the past five years to be rewritten – again and again.”
However, the current optimistic outlook has yet to result in a rise to interest rates. Whilst gross domestic product has risen, ordinary living standards have yet to show a similar recovery. This remains to be the case for years to come, with Chancellor George Osborne recently announcing further cuts to decrease the deficit.
Ultimately, whilst the UK’s economy may not yet be felt by the country’s workers, it is nevertheless widely acknowledged to be going through a strong period of recovery.