British economic growth increases in final quarter of 2017

LONDON, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The rate of growth in the British economy stepped up in the final quarter of last year, according to figures released on Wednesday afternoon by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR).

Growth increased in the fourth quarter to 0.6 percent quarter on quarter, according to the NIESR, an independent economic think-tank in London.

This was an increase on quarterly growth of 0.4 percent in the third quarter, and based on this, the British economy expanded by 1.8 percent in 2017.

"It's the strongest quarterly growth in a year and it appears to be reasonably broad-based," Amit Kara, head of British macroeconomics at NIESR told Xinhua on Wednesday afternoon.

"Services remain buoyant, manufacturing remains strong and this is partly related to the weakness in currency and stronger euro area growth," Kara added.

"Construction output is a little weak, and has been the trend for the past few months. Overall there are signs that the economy is advancing."

The British economy has been principally influenced over the past year by the sharp rise in Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation caused by sterling's devaluation after the Brexit vote.

CPI inflation was 0.5 percent at the time of the June 2016 referendum vote and stood at 3.1 percent in November.

Sterling's fall from 1.48 U.S. dollars to 1.35 now, touching lows of 1.16 U.S. dollars in between, has raised supply chain costs and the price of imports and raw materials, but has made British exports more competitive. Enditem