The UK has narrowly avoided the dreaded Triple Dip recession, with figures announced from the Office of National Statistics ( ONS)  showing overall growth for the first quarter of 2013 at 0.3%. This level is no great cause for flag waving as the economy is still bumping along the bottom, with growth very fragile indeed but the Government statement that accompanied the welcome good news, not unsurprisingly, said the figure was encouraging, though you know what they say about Swallows.

Construction and manufacturing statistics were both lower, with the main gains coming through in the Services Industry, though Communications and the Transport sectors also showed improvements.

We are always ready to blame the poor weather for most things here in the UK but it seemed to have minimal effect on the economy and the news is ultimately good, not great.