Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made economic growth one of his key pledges - although as the graph below shows, there’s been stagnation since the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a growing economy, each quarterly GDP measurement will be slightly bigger than the one before - showing that people are doing more work and getting (on average) a little bit richer.

But if GDP is falling, then the economy is shrinking: bad news for businesses and workers. If GDP falls for two quarters in a row, that’s a recession.

Remember - we're about to get the figures for the second quarter of 2023. In the first quarter, the UK economy grew by 0.1%.

Image source, .

Paul Bury is the director of the Best Western Lothersdale Hotel in Morecambe, and says customers no longer tend to book in advance.

"Maybe they're watching the weather or waiting until finances are right for them, but it makes it harder to plan on staffing," he told the BBC.

While the guests' spending has remained static, their money is not going as far because prices have risen.

"Instead of having a starter and a main course, people are choosing to have just a main course now," the hotelier says.

Prices for fish and chips have gone up by 23% and market rates "fluctuate from week to week", but the hotel has to plan the menu costs in advance.

Changing the menu also costs money, Bury explains.

Duty changes to alcohol announced earlier this month mean the cost of a bottle of wine is also increasing, but Bury says some customers "think the business is just profiteering, when actually we're just trying to survive".

Little growth expectedpublished at 06:44 British Summer Time 11 August 2023

06:44 BST 11 August 2023

Dharshini David
Chief economics correspondent

Revealing how the economy has fared, GDP numbers are the main gauge of the nation’s financial wellbeing in the latest quarter.

Crucially, they inform the Bank of England's decisions about interest rates. An extra bank holiday to mark the King’s coronation - and repeat strike action - will have impacted the figures.

But overall, while economists expect activity to have picked up after such disruptions in June, they think it will been flat across the whole quarter (April to June).

That would mean the economy barely budged in the first half of this year, as businesses and consumers grappled with higher prices and interest rates. That struggle isn’t over.

With interest rates likely to stay near current levels, the Bank of England has acknowledged the economy may not see much growth for a while.

That’s not ideal for our finances; take away taxes and inflation, and the typical household may not be better off than they were prior to the pandemic - and may not see a return to form for some time.

Owen Amos
In London

Good morning. How are the UK’s finances doing? We’ll get the latest health check at 07:00, when the Office for National Statistics (ONS) gives its latest figures on Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

These will show whether or not the UK’s economy grew between the months of April and June (a period referred to as Q2), and by how much.

And why does that matter? Because it influences how businesses act, how the government sets its tax and spending policies, and what the Bank of England does with its interest rates.

I’m watching the newswires here in London’s New Broadcasting House, assisted by my colleagues Aoife Walsh and Adam Durbin.