Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the same growth figure for the first three months of the year.
After narrowly avoiding a recession last year, the Office for National Statistics said on Friday gross domestic product rose 0.5% in January, was flat in February and fell 0.3% in March. .
“The March decline was driven by a general slowdown in the services sector,” noted ONS director of economic statistics Darren Morgan.
He added: “Vehicle sales were weak by historical standards, a continuation of the trend we have seen since the start of the pandemic, with warehousing, distribution and retail also having a bad month. ”
The data comes, a day after the Bank of England predicted the UK economy will avoid recession this year, although the country’s annual inflation has remained above 10 so far.
This rise in inflation prompted the Bank of England on Thursday to raise its key rate by an additional 25 basis points to 4.5%.
It was the central bank’s 12th consecutive increase, putting the rate at the highest level since the 2008 global financial crisis.
High inflation has eroded the value of workers’ wages, prompting widespread strikes in several sectors across Britain, the latest of which was the suspension of the rail network on Friday.
The Bank of England now expects UK GDP to be flat in the first half of this year, growing 0.9% by mid-2024 and 0.7% by mid -2025.
As for the eurozone economy, it grew by just 0.1% in the first quarter of the year, with Germany, the bloc’s largest economy, stagnating.
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