Faisal Islam: Why the UK economy is surprisingly resilient

"Top gear" and "strikingly strong" were among the descriptions of the 0.7% growth offered by the economists who track every minor murmur of Britain's economy. Against the backdrop of the world's biggest disruption to energy flows, rising market borrowing costs - and the cruel summers since the pandemic - it is impressive growth. Even the UK's official forecaster the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) effectively pencilled in 0.3% at the Budget just 3 weeks ago.

This figure has not been exceeded outside the pandemic since 2017. It puts the UK on course to be the second fastest growing economy after the US across the major G7 countries which also includes Canada, Japan, Germany, Italy and France. It is tempting to think about what the economy would have done if the Iran War hadn't happened.

If interest rates had been cut instead of their recent rise. Spending on AI and tech have driven the surprise upside over the year.