LONDON: Economic growth in the UK appears to be losing a little momentum, weighed down by a sluggish performance in the services sector, according to estimates from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
The think-tank said on Thursday that gross domestic product in the UK grew by 0.2 per cent in the three months to July, after notching up 0.3 per cent of growth in the second quarter. Niesr said the UK economy “continues to grow below its long run trend of 0.6 per cent”. It expects growth to pick up in the second half of the year, but warned consumer spending was likely to be “weighed down by weak wage growth and investment spending held back by Brexit-related uncertainty”. It said it expects GDP to expand by 1.7 per cent this year, in line with revised BoE projections.