Off the wire
• Tusk calls for special summit on migratory pressures in Mediterranean  • FTSE 100 stages moderate increase on Monday  • China's Silk Road Fund makes first investment in Pakistan's hydropower project  • Tanzania condemns S. Africa violence, moves to bring back its nationals  • Bangladesh opposition calls for nationwide strike protesting attack ex-PM  • First super-size container ship to call at port of Liverpool within months  • Namibia to kill 86, 000 seals in the next three years  • Mideast long-haul flights outperform global growth trend  • 1st LD Writethru: UN chief slams "barbaric killing" of Ethiopian nationals in Libya on religious grounds  • Finnish PM expresses sympathy over Mediterranean boat tragedy  
You are here: 　 Home

British forecaster estimates 2.8 pct growth for Britain in 2015

Xinhua, April 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Britain's economy will expand by 2.8 percent in 2015 despite the "political uncertainty mounting" over the general election, said the EY Item Club in a report on Monday.

The London-based economic forecaster also expects British gross domestic product (GDP) will grow to 3.0 percent in 2016.

A strong labor market, benign inflation, and a supportive interest rate environment are expected to boost Britons' consumption, with a real income growth of 3.7 percent in 2015 for the household, said EY ITEM Club.

The forecaster projects that British CPI inflation will average 0.1 percent this year, but it will move back above one percent this winter, paving the way for the first rate increase in early 2016.

The stronger growth of the euro zone, which is boosted by the European Central Bank's quantitative easing program, is also another factor supporting Britain's growth.

"The fall of the euro against the pound will add weight to the forces bearing down on UK inflation and buoying consumer incomes and spending," it said.

The EY ITEM Club is forecasting that British economic growth will remain "healthy" through to 2018, averaging just under three percent per annum.

However, it noted that the cooling down of business investment would be one of the concerns for British growth. Endit