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UK economic growth steady at 0.3 pct in Q1: think-tank

Xinhua, May 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

The GDP growth of the UK economy remained steady at 0.3 percent over the three months to the end of April, same as the preceding quarter, according to a forecast released Wednesday by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR).

The London-based economic think-tank said there was stability in UK economic growth, but at a subdued level.

It also confirmed the decline in the rate of growth from that seen at the end of last year, when GDP increased by 0.5 percent in the three months to the end of December and 0.4 percent in the three months to the end of January.

Jack Meaning, research fellow at NIESR, told Xinhua: "Our analysis shows that uncertainty (over EU membership) has played a part -- we are not saying it is the whole story -- but it looks like there has been a significant slowdown in the year so far because of the uncertainty feeding through investment plans particularly."

However, there were also other elements at play, and data over the next few months will be valuable in identifying if there are structural changes that have taken place in the UK economy.

Meaning said: "At the moment you can look at the confidence impact, and the financial market volatility at the start of the year, and people being uncertain over what is going to happen about monetary policy and other policy uncertainties. Those things are holding people's spending decisions off a little bit." Endit