The UK economy unexpectedly contracted in March causing the country to grow slowly in the first quarter of the year.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported gross domestic product (GDP) contracted 0.3% in March, worse than market expectations of zero growth.
However, thanks to strong growth in January, the economy expanded by 0.1% during the first quarter as a whole.
ONS director of economic statistics. Darren Morgan said that although the economy contracted in March, GDP rose slightly in the first quarter.
According to him, the first quarter's growth was driven by an increase in IT and construction, but weakened by a broad decline in the service sector due to the strike.
The data was released a day after the Bank of England (BOE) decided to raise interest rates by 25 basis points to a 15-year high of 4.50%.
The BOE also predicts that the UK economy will stagnate in the year with a projected growth of 0.25%.
The UK continues to struggle with high inflation, with the BOE expecting it to fall sharply over the summer but will only average around 5.1% in the final three months of the year, well short of the central bank's 2% target.
