Britain: Small increase of 0.1% of GDP compared to 0.4% expected

The growth of the British economy was lower than expected in October, which ran at a rate of 0.1%, 0.5% lower than in February 2020, just before the country entered its first lockdown, said the National Statistical Service.

Economists expected the monthly GDP growth to be 0.4%.

The low figures are likely to boost expectations that the Bank of England will keep interest rates unchanged for another week, although it has recently hinted that it is on track for its first post-pandemic rise.

The British economy recovered earlier this year from a nearly 10% recession in 2020 when the pandemic began.

But the recovery has slowed in recent months as the supply chain and its problems hit manufacturers and they are expected to lose more momentum due to new rules to limit Omicron’s spread.

October growth was boosted by the resumption of the economy and the fact that contact transactions increased, which had declined during the pandemic, contributing to a 0.4% increase in Britain’s services output.

On the contrary, industrial production decreased by 0.6%, mainly due to large reductions in electricity and gas, and in mining.

Construction recorded the biggest drop since April 2020, lower by 1.8% compared to September.

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Source From: Capital

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