UK economy grows 0.5% in fourth quarter

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The UK economy grew by 0.5% in the three months to the end of December, official figures show, taking the annual rate of growth for 2015 to 2.2%.

The Office for National Statistics show an improvement on the third quarter figure of 0.4%.

But the 2.2% annual growth in 2015 was down compared with 2.9% in 2014.

Output in the three months to December was 1.9% higher than a year earlier, down from 2.1% in the third quarter and the smallest increase since early 2013.

Despite the annual pace of growth being the slowest for three years, it still means the UK economy is one of the fastest growing developed nations.