Although the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) predicted the UK is growing again, following a 0.3% decline between September and December 2012, it admitted “the economy [was] broadly flat in the first quarter of this year”.

It expects growth of just 0.7% for 2013, which is slightly ahead of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast of 0.6%.

NIESR said it still believes the UK economy will take seven years to recover from the impact of the financial crisis: “We do not expect output to pass its peak in early 2008 until 2015.”

The UK’s growth figure for the first three months of 2013 was supported by strong manufacturing data for February. Output grew by 0.8% after a 1.5% collapse in January due to bad weather.

However, the ONS said the UK’s trade deficit soared to £3.6bn in February, from £2.5bn the previous month. Most worrying was a 4.7% fall in exports of goods to non-EU countries.