UK expected to grow faster on lower oil prices
THE UK’S economic growth is speeding up this year, an economic forecaster has said.
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research estimates the economy grew by 0.7 per cent in the three months ending in January.
Official estimates place growth in the three months to December at 0.5 per cent. Niesr attribute the acceleration in growth to the private services sector.
Niesr also said yesterday it expected 2.9 per cent economic growth this year, up from 2.6 per cent in 2014, due almost entirely to sharp falls in oil prices.
Brent crude oil – a North Sea benchmark – is currently $57 per barrel, about half what it was last July. However, it warned economic weakness in the Eurozone – the UK’s biggest export market – will prove a hindrance to significant improvement.
The forecast eases fears that the UK’s recovery is losing traction. The three-month on three-month rate of growth slowed in the final quarter of the year from 0.7 per cent in the three months to September. It also grew 0.8 per cent in the three months to June.