UK economic growth rate slows
The first official estimate of the UK economy’s 2017 performance points to growth of 1.8%, down on the previous year’s figure of 1.9% and the lowest growth rate since 2012.
While manufacturing had its most productive year for three years, the service sector — the dominant force in the UK economy — put in its weakest performance for six years.
Manufacturing output increased by 2.8% in 2017 compared with the previous year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the best performance since 2014 when output increased by 2.9%.
Output in the production industries (mining and utilities as well as manufacturing) was 2.1% higher. This is the fourth consecutive annual rise and the strongest growth since 2010, when it rose by 3.2%.
However, as TUC senior economist Geoff Tily has pointed out “the big concern is services”, which accounts for around 80% of the economy. Growth at 1.6% last year was down 0.9 percentage points on the 2.5% growth posted in 2016 and was the lowest growth rate since 2011.
Meanwhile, construction was broadly flat across 2017, thanks to a strong December. “However, house building and infrastructure were the only bright spots with all other areas of the industry falling back throughout the year,” said ONS statistician Ole Black.
https://www.tuc.org.uk/blogs/weakest-gdp-growth-5-years-driven-slowdown-services-output