UK economic growth in the fourth quarter of last year has been revised up slightly, although a fall in business investment highlights a continuing lack of balance in the recovery.
The Office for National Statistics, in its latest figures, puts growth in UK gross domestic product in the final three months of 2014 at 0.6 per cent, having estimated expansion at 0.5 per cent previously.
It now puts UK growth in 2014 at 2.8 per cent. This is up from the ONS's previous 2.6 per cent estimate of expansion last year. However, in December, the Office for Budget Responsibility had projected the UK economy would achieve growth of three per cent over 2014 as a whole.
The OBR forecasts UK growth will slow this year to 2.5 per cent, a below-trend rate.
The latest ONS figures show business investment dropped by 0.9 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the final three months of last year.
Howard Archer, chief UK economist at consultancy IHS Global Insight, said: "The marked relapse in business investment was disappointing. Healthy business investment is vital if the UK is to significantly lift productivity and generate sustainable balanced growth."
There was better news on the export front for the UK in the fourth quarter of last year.
Exports rose by 4.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the final three months of last year. They had fallen in each of the two previous quarters.
The upward revision to fourth-quarter growth helped support the pound.
Sterling was trading around $1.4849 at 5pm, up by 0.61 cents on its Monday close in London.
The pound also gained ground against the euro. The single currency was trading around 72.36p at 5pm, down 0.76p on its close in London on Monday.
Growth in the fourth quarter of 2014 now matches the 0.6 per cent rate in the preceding three months. Expansion has slowed since the start of last year. The UK economy grew by 0.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2014, and by 0.8 per cent in the three months to June.
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