UK tipped for faster growth to end the year
THE UK economy is on track to grow by an impressive one per cent in the final three months of the year, analysts said yesterday.
A leading survey of Britain’s services sector fell below expectations but still pointed to strong expansion in the industry.
Markit’s latest purchasing managers’ index (PMI) recorded a headline level of 60 in November – not as high as the 16-year peak of 62.5 measured in October, but still “a historically sharp growth rate,” the research firm said.
“The data add to indications that the economy is set to grow by at least one per cent in the fourth quarter, enjoying its strongest period of GDP growth since 2007,” said Markit’s chief economist Chris Williamson, referring to this week’s PMI surveys that have been positive across the three main sectors of the economy. “The PMI data are currently running at a level consistent with private sector employment growing by approximately 140,000 per quarter.”
Carl Astorri, a senior economic adviser to the EY Item Club, agreed: “It appears that another quarter of positive GDP growth is on the cards for the UK economy in quarter four after quarter three’s 0.8 per cent expansion.”