The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) released its estimate of gross domestic product (GDP) for the U.K. on Wednesday. The GDP estimate rose by 0.3% in three months to February, after a 0.4% growth in three months to January.

A softer growth was partly driven by a slight decline in the production and private services sector.

According to the NIESR, the U.K. economy is expected to expand 2.3% in 2016 and 2.7% in 2017.

"It looks as if output growth at the start of 2016 has been subdued. However, it appears that December 2015 may have been a low point for GDP and as this drops out of the calculation of quarterly growth rates, output growth for the first quarter may strengthen slightly," Jack Meaning, NIESR Research Fellow, said.