Sunday, February 05, 2012
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22 Aug 2007
Moderate growth in the UK - BERL Forecasts June 2007
Jason S Leung-Wai
GDP rose by 0.7% in the first quarter of 2007, the same rate of growth as in the previous two quarters. The economy grew by 2.9% compared to the first quarter of 2006.
The number of unemployed people in the UK fell in the three months to April, according to official figures, dropping by 15,000 to 1.68m. The figures also showed that the number claiming jobseeker's allowance was down by 9,300 to 880,400 in May. Average earnings rose by 4% on an annual basis - below forecasts - in the three months to April, down from 4.4% in the January to March period.
The UK trade deficit narrowed sharply in April. The shortfall in goods and services trade declined to £3.6bn from £4.5bn in March, according to provisional data. That gave the UK its smallest trade gap since July 2005, largely because of an improvement in the goods deficit, which shrank to £6.3bn from £7.1bn. The UK's surplus on trade in services was £2.7bn in April, the same as in the previous month.
The UK's rate of inflation slowed in May to the weakest level in seven months. Consumer Price Inflation fell to 2.5%, against 2.8% in April. The Retail Prices Index fell to 4.3% in May from 4.5% in April.
The Bank of England held UK interest rates at 5.5% following its latest meeting. The decision to freeze rates had been expected, to give the Bank time to assess the impact of recent rate rises. UK rates have now been increased four times since August last year in an attempt to rein in inflation. But with price growth still strong, many analysts expect a further rise to 5.75% before the end of the year to ensure that inflation falls to 2%, the government's target.
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