UK Construction Stumble to Slow Down Economy

Britain’s economy will grow at a slower pace this year and faces serious risks from weak productivity and a troubled eurozone, a leading thinktank has warned.

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) has cut its forecast for growth this year to 2.5%, down from 2.9% pencilled in three months ago and below the 2.8% rate last year. The move follows much weaker than expected official GDP figures for the first quarter, which saw Britain’s growth rate halve to 0.3%.

Those figures and the downgrade from NIESR come as a blow to the Conservatives before the election. But the thinktank said the rocky start to 2015 appeared to be a blip and the overall picture was of a “reasonably stable” recovery.

“There are undoubtedly concerns that this quarter is the harbinger of a pervasive slowdown. However, this is probably just a temporary deceleration, partly related to a fall in construction output, a sector that is particularly volatile,” said NIESR’s principal research fellow Simon Kirby.

“We expect economic growth, consistent with a modest recovery, to resume from the second quarter.”

via The Guardian

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.