“Unless you know what the Olympic effect was you can't really say with any degree of accuracy about what this means for the overall recovery”

Peter Dixon of Commerzbank, as economists digest yesterday’s news that UK GDP has increased by 1 per cent in the last quarter. The government said this means the economy is “on the right track" but the Office for National Statistics have warned that figures had been artificially boosted by two short-term factors: the Olympic Games and June's extra bank holiday for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.