UK statistics office revises up 2023 and 2024 growth estimates

LONDON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Britain's statistics office said on Thursday that the economy grew slightly faster in 2023 and 2024 than previously thought, making economic output about 0.5% higher in 2024 than it had most recently estimated.

The revisions are part of an annual review of gross domestic product, and reflect improved measurement of the services sector, property rents and the benefit homeowners get from not paying rent, the Office for National Statistics said.

"Incorporating this information into our estimates of GDP, has led us to revise upwards our estimates of services output over a number of years and provides a more complete picture of how different parts of the economy contribute to GDP," said Craig McLaren, the ONS' head of national accounts.

• The cash value of Britain's economy in 2024 is estimated to be 0.5% larger than previously thought at £2.905 trillion ($3.96 trillion)

• Annual GDP growth in 2023 and 2024 has been revised up by 0.1 percentage points in each year, lifting the 2024 growth rate to 1.1%

• Overall growth in volume terms from 1997 to 2024 has been revised up to 61.7% from 59.2%

• Much of the change reflects new calculations of imputed rent for homeowners and quality adjustments for rented property, which has lowered GDP levels in earlier years and raised them more recently

• British data up to now has broadly shown a lasting slowdown in growth after the 2008 financial crisis and a further decline after the COVID-19 pandemic, in contrast to a pickup in the United States

• Thursday's changes will be included in quarterly GDP data for Q2 2026 published in September, and revisions to more recent data will be published on October 30

($1 = 0.7336 pounds)

(Reporting by David Milliken; editing by William James)