Xinhua, London :
The British economy is now growing at the slowest rate for six years, with revised first quarter figures hit by uncertainty over Brexit and bad weather.
Figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) released on Friday show growth rate at 0.1 percent in the first quarter, down from the 0.4 percent quarter-on-quarter growth seen at the end of 2017.
While exceptional bad weather was responsible for reduction in activity in some sectors, such as construction and tourism, it was also behind a boost in others, for instance power supply.
Services output growth slowed to 0.3 percent, particularly hit by a 0.1 percent quarter on quarter contraction in distribution, hotels and catering.
Friday’s data was the first revision of first quarter data, and showed that construction output had slumped by 2.7 percent over the quarter.
“The construction sector clearly took a substantial hit from the severe weather at the end of February and first half of March, but the weakness in the sector looks to have run deeper as output also fell sharply in January,” said Howard Archer, chief economic adviser to economic analysts EY ITEM Club.
“The extent of the slowdown suggests there was an underlying loss of momentum in economic activity,” Archer told Xinhua.
The British economy is now growing at the slowest rate for six years, with revised first quarter figures hit by uncertainty over Brexit and bad weather.
Figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) released on Friday show growth rate at 0.1 percent in the first quarter, down from the 0.4 percent quarter-on-quarter growth seen at the end of 2017.
While exceptional bad weather was responsible for reduction in activity in some sectors, such as construction and tourism, it was also behind a boost in others, for instance power supply.
Services output growth slowed to 0.3 percent, particularly hit by a 0.1 percent quarter on quarter contraction in distribution, hotels and catering.
Friday’s data was the first revision of first quarter data, and showed that construction output had slumped by 2.7 percent over the quarter.
“The construction sector clearly took a substantial hit from the severe weather at the end of February and first half of March, but the weakness in the sector looks to have run deeper as output also fell sharply in January,” said Howard Archer, chief economic adviser to economic analysts EY ITEM Club.
“The extent of the slowdown suggests there was an underlying loss of momentum in economic activity,” Archer told Xinhua.
