Britain's economy faced a sharp slowdown in the first quarter of 2015, halving its growth rate from the previous three months, unrevised official data showed today.
The UK's gross domestic product expanded by 0.3% in the three months from January to March, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) confirmed in a second estimate.
That compared with GDP growth of 0.6% in the final quarter of 2014. Analysts' forecasts had been for a upward revision in quarter-on-quarter growth to 0.4%.
The ONS also confirmed that the economy grew by 2.8% last year, which was the best among the G7's developed economies.
"Today's figures confirm that the UK was the fastest growing major European economy over the past year," a Treasury spokesman said.
"While it is good news that the economy continues to grow, the job is not done and we must go on working through the plan that's securing a better economic future," he added.
The ONS added that services growth slowed to 0.4% in the first quarter, down from the prior figure of 0.5%. That marked its worst performance since late 2012.
