UK GDP growth during the first quarter of the year was revised down sharply, further strengthening the case for an interest rate reduction in the coming months, official figures confirmed today. In its quarterly national accounts, the Office of National Statistics revealed that UK GDP during the period grew by 0.4 pct from the previous quarter and 2.1 pct on a year-on-year basis. Both were downward revisions from rises of 0.5 pct and 2.7 pct respectively. Analysts polled by AFX News had not predicted any changes. The quarter-on-quarter figure was last as low in the third quarter of 2004 while the annual rate is now the lowest since the last quarter of 2002. National Statistics said the downgrade was caused mainly downward adjustments in the output of business services. Manufacturing output dropped 0.9 pct from the fourth quarter, against the previous estimate of a 0.7 pct drop. Manufacturing output accounts for around 18 pct of GDP. The fall in manufacturing led to a revision in the wider measure of industrial production -- which accounts for around 22 pct of total GDP -- to a 0.9 pct fall against the provisional estimate of a 0.7 pct decline.