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UK GDP grew by 0.7 pct in past three months: think tank

Xinhua, August 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

The British economy grew by 0.7 percent over the past three months, according to figures released on Thursday by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR).

Figures from the London-based economic think-tank showed that growth in Britain's GDP in the three months ending in July was 0.7 percent, the same as in the three months ending in June.

Compared to the same three month period in 2014, this implies a year-on-year growth rate of 2.7 percent, which is consistent with NIESR's released quarterly forecast of 2.5 percent growth in GDP in 2015, released on Wednesday.

NIESR's economic forecast came on the same day as the central bank, the Bank of England, released its quarterly inflation report, which predicted growth of 2.8 percent for 2015.

Jack Meaning, research fellow at NIESR and co-author of the forecast, told Xinhua, "This shows that growth will remain reasonably strong."

"It's also indicative that the Bank's (BOE) assessment is probably on the right lines. They are expecting growth in the second half of the year to keep up and that is why our estimate for the year as a whole is staying at 2.5 percent," said Meaning.

The BOE's rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee revealed Thursday that it would continue to hold the Bank Rate at 0.5 percent, and Meaning said he continued to expect the first interest rate increase to come in February, 2016. Endit