Britain's businesses bounced back from strikes in August, returning to growth.
New figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show Gross domestic product (GDP) was in line with economists expectations, growing 0.2% in August.
It follows a downward contraction of 0.6% in July.
Britain's economy is now 1.8% larger than pre-pandemic, growing more than both France (1.7%) and Germany (0.2%).
Reason for optimism
The new figures will be a boost to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected the country's economy to grow slower than any other G7 nation in 2024.
The IMF halved the UK's projected growth from 1% to 0.6% - half a point slower than Russia's expected growth and worse than recession-hit countries in the eurozone.
But Hunt says today's figures show “the economy is more resilient than expected”.
FTSE 100
The UK's top share index, the FTSE 100, was up 39-points at 7,659 shortly after opening this morning.
Brent crude futures were down 0.22% this morning at $85.63 a barrel.
Companies reporting today
EasyJet has a full year trading statement.
Hays has a Q1 trading statement, and Dechra Pharmaceuticals is reporting Q4 results.