Economy British rebounds from 0.5% in the first quarter (AFP)

London (AFP)-l' British economy increased by 0.5% in the first three months of 2011, official data showed Wednesday, rebounding in accordance with the expectations of the market after a sharp decline from the end of last year.

"Gross domestic product (GDP) has increased by 0.5% in the first quarter of 2011, following a decline of 0.5% in the fourth quarter of 2010," the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement.

"The effect of abnormal weather conditions in December 2010 is estimated to have subtracted 0.5% growth in the fourth quarter."

She added "GDP is estimated today to have returned to the level of the third quarter of 2010."

Economists said activity was largely flat - and argued that the modest recovery was not strong enough to convince the Bank of England to raise interest rates to combat high inflation, the concerns of the deep state spending cuts and high prices of fuel.

"The gain of 0.5 per cent is in line with consensus, but the increase to compensate for the decline of 0.5% in the fourth quarter - so GDP was flat in the past six months," Economist VTB Capital Neil MacKinnon told AFP.

Between January and March, economic production was 1.8 per cent higher compared to the first quarter of 2010, according to the ONS.

"In my opinion, is that the economic recovery this year is unlikely to be strong enough to justify a tightening of monetary policy, the tax reduction and the impact of high energy prices will be strong winds"said MacKinnon.

And Economist, IHS Global Insight Howard Archer described the dissemination of the data in the first quarter "disappointing".

He said: "it is a somewhat disappointing performance, pointing to the economy being only standing together during the last two quarters."

"This fuels concern on the underlying strength of the economy and its ability to resist the tax reduction."

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