The City of London financial district is seen as people walk over Millennium Bridge in London, Britain, February 16, 2022.
The City of London financial district is seen as people walk over Millennium Bridge in London, Britain, February 16, 2022. Reuters / HENRY NICHOLLS

Growth in Britain's economy slowed more sharply than expected in February as gross domestic product rose by 0.1%, official figures showed on Monday, down from 0.8% growth in January.

The expansion was less than a 0.3% increase forecast in a Reuters poll of economists.

Britain's economy in February was 1.5% larger than it was two years earlier, just before the country was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Office for National Statistics said.

Britain's economy shrank more than 9% in 2020, its biggest annual fall since just after World War One, but rebounded sharply in 2021 and suffered only a modest hit from the Omicron variant of coronavirus in December

However, economists have downgraded their growth forecasts for 2022 due to a surge in inflation caused by rising energy and commodity prices -- partly linked to the war in Ukraine -- as well as ongoing supply-chain difficulties since the pandemic.

Last month the government's Office for Budget Responsibility cut its forecast for growth in 2022 to 3.8% from 6.0% in its previous forecast in October, predicting that inflation would hit a 40-year high of 8.7% later this year.

Britain's dominant services sector drove monthly growth in February - boosted by travel and tourism - while industrial output fell by 0.6% on the month reflecting falls in car production and other areas due to component shortages.