LONDON: The growth of the UK economy has slowed to its weakest pace in three years. Economists had forecast a fall but the figures were even worse than expected.
Gross domestic product grew was just 0.3pc in the first quarter of the year, half what it was in the last three months of 2014, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday.
The growth data are the last to be published before the election, and represents the last big update on the health of the economy before polls open in nine days’ time.
- Can we ever really expect to see the growth of the past again?
- What does GDP really tell us about economic growth?
At 0.3pc, growth in the quarter was at the weakest level recorded since the final quarter of 2012. The pound slumped against the dollar as the data were released.
