UK GDP grew by 0.8% in January 2022 is now 0.8% above its pre-pandemic level in February 2020.

Growth comes after the UK economy contracted by 0.5% in December 2021, as a surge in COVID-19 cases hampered festive trade.

All sectors contributed positively to GDP growth in January, with services being the main driver, contributing 0.6 percentage points.

The production and construction sectors both contributed 0.1 percentage points to the 0.8% January growth.

Wholesale and retail trade grew by 2.5% in January 2022 and was the main contributor to January's growth in services.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) recently revised its economic forecast and suggested GDP would grow by 3.6% in 2022 amid rising inflation, increased taxes and the invasion of Ukraine - down from 4.2%.

Julian Jessop, economics fellow at free market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, said:

"It is too soon to write off the economic recovery. The UK economy at least started the year with plenty of positive momentum."

Suren Thiru, head of economics at the BCC said:

"While there was a strong rebound in output in January as the impact of Omicron started to ease, the figures have been pushed into the rear-view mirror by renewed domestic and global shocks, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine."

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