LONDON (AA): The UK’s gross domestic growth estimate for last year has been raised from 1.7 percent to 1.8 percent, the Office of National Statistics said Thursday.
The UK gross domestic product (GDP) in volume terms was estimated to have climbed 0.4 percent between the third and fourth quarters of last year. Growth in the last quarter was driven by professional, scientific, administration, and support activities within the services sector, said the statistics office.
Household spending grew 1.7 percent between 2016 and 2017, its slowest rate of annual growth since 2011, in part reflecting the higher prices faced by consumers.
“Economic growth at the end of last year was unrevised with services and manufacturing continuing to drive growth,” Rob Kent-Smith, the ONS’ head of national accounts, said in a statement.
“Today’s data saw a slight rise in estimated UK GDP growth in 2017 from 1.7 percent to 1.8 percent but no change in the bigger picture of the UK remaining in the slow lane of global growth,” said John Hawksworth, chief economist at PwC. Hawksworth noted that UK was the only economy to see a deceleration in growth between 2016 and 2017 among the G7.
“This does point to the dampening impact of Brexit-related uncertainty on UK business investment and the squeeze on consumers from the weaker pound pushing up UK import prices in 2017,” he added.
