The UK economy expanded in the second quarter on services output, but the pace of overall growth remained weak, preliminary data published by the Office for National Statistics showed Wednesday.

Gross domestic product climbed 0.3 percent sequentially, slightly faster than the 0.2 percent expansion seen in the first three months of the year. The quarterly growth came in line with expectations.

Darren Morgan, head of GDP at the ONS, said the economy experienced a notable slowdown in the first half of this year.

The preliminary estimate is based on 45 percent of final data, leaving space for revisions.

Second quarter growth was driven by the dominant service sector, while construction and manufacturing exerted the largest downward pulls.

Services output grew 0.5 percent from the prior quarter, when it edged up only 0.1 percent. Likewise, farm output grew moderately by 0.6 percent, following a 0.1 percent rise.

Meanwhile, production declined 0.4 percent, contributing a negative 0.06 percentage points to GDP. Within production, manufacturing contracted 0.5 percent due to a large fall in auto production.

At the same time, construction shrank 0.9 percent in the second quarter, reversing the first quarter's 1.1 percent expansion.

On a yearly basis, the economy expanded 1.7 percent in the second quarter, the slowest in a year, versus 2 percent in the first quarter.

The fact that growth remained sluggish in the second quarter is another reason to think that policymakers will take a cautious approach at its meeting next week, Capital Economics economist Paul Hollingsworth said.

Data supports the assessment that interest rates will remain on hold until around the second quarter of next year, he added.

Earlier this week, the downgraded its UK outlook for 2017 citing weaker-than-expected activity in the first quarter. The economy is now forecast to grow 1.7 percent in 2017 and 1.5 percent in 2018.

Another report from the ONS showed that services output increased 0.2 percent in May from April. Year-on-year, services output grew 2.4 percent.

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