UK economy hobbles into Q2 with 0.3%
Print Edition
BRITAIN’S economy hobbled along in the second quarter, barely recovering from a weak start to the year as industrial production and construction flagged amid uncertainties over the country’s exit from the European Union.
The economy grew by a quarterly rate of 0.3 percent in April-June, a meager rate that is barely above the 0.2 percent of the first three months of the year, the Office of National Statistics said yesterday.
Economists have been downgrading their forecasts for Britain’s economy as the country embarks on the process of leaving the EU and negotiating new trade relations. Yesterday’s figures show that the economy, which had initially weathered well the uncertainty of the Brexit vote a year ago, is in a new, weaker phase.
“It’s the underlying trends that matter,” said Lucy O’Carroll, Aberdeen Asset Management’s chief economist. “They don’t look favorable at the moment, given the uncertainties around Brexit and the pressure on household budgets from higher inflation.”
The International Monetary Fund this week cut its forecast for British economic growth this year to 1.7 percent from 2.0 percent previously. Others are more pessimistic, with financial services firm PwC expecting 1.5 percent. Ratings agencies Moody’s has also warned about prospects for the British economy.
Growth in the second quarter was driven by services, which increased by 0.5 percent compared with 0.1 percent in the first quarter stretching from January to March.
Retail and film production improved, the ONS said. Motion pictures were the second biggest contributor from the services sector, growing by 8.2 percent. Manufacturing swung from 0.3 percent growth in the first quarter to a 0.5 percent decline amid a slowdown in car production.
The results also weaken the likelihood the Bank of England will hike interest rates from their record lows of 0.25 percent.
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