LONDON: The UK economy grew by only 0.2 per cent over the latest three months, a leading think-tank has estimated, and manufacturing output has once again disappointed. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research cited “weakness in the production sector, offset by a mild rebound in services” as it estimated UK gross domestic product had grown by 0.2 per cent in the three months to May, compared with the December to February period. NIESR director Jagjit Chadha said: “The subdued performance in the economy throws the political turmoil of a hung Parliament into sharp relief. People are looking for answers to low levels of economic growth, limited improvements in productivity and falling real wages.”
The latest official data, published last month, show the UK economy grew by only 0.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the opening three months of this year. It expanded at an around-trend rate of 0.7 per cent in the final quarter of 2016. Figures published yesterday by the Office for National Statistics show UK manufacturing output increased by only 0.2 per cent month-on-month in April, way adrift of the 0.9 per cent rise forecast by economists. Manufacturing output dropped by 0.6 per cent in March. Broader industrial production, which includes oil and gas extraction, mining and quarrying, and electricity, gas and water supply as well as manufacturing output, rose by 0.2 per cent in April. This was adrift of the 0.8 per cent increase predicted by economists and followed a 0.5 per cent fall in March. Oil and gas extraction dropped by 1.3 per cent in April, having risen by 2.1 per cent in March.
