Economic growth in the UK is expected to have fallen by half in the opening months of the year, one of Britain’s leading forecasting bodies has said, amid renewed concerns for the health of the economy. Monthly output unexpectedly fell by 1.6% in February, as builders were hit by the snow at the end of the month. Factories producing machinery such as turbines, pumps, compressors and agricultural toolsrecorded the sharpest falls in February, the worst month for the manufacturing sector since March last year. “If we can’t do well in terms of manufacturing output in conditions like that then we’ve got problems,” he said. While other indicators may have softened since the start of the year, ongoing growth in the global economy should continue to spur growth across manufacturing in the coming quarters.”

Source: The Guardian April 11, 2018 10:20 UTC