Message #2801

[AndyHB]

ecu, during your listening in to the chatter, did you happen to hear the spokesman for one of the business organisations highlight the fact that this set of figures comes from a period that included a number of one-off events such as the Royal Wedding, the late Easter and, of course, the aftermath of the Japanese tsunami.  He suggested that had these circumstances not applied, the growth rate would have been nearer 0.6%.  I think we need to be careful of judging economic conditions on the strength of a single quarter's figures.

Yes, growth is slow - but that is the same across the globe - but economies that were weak prior to the banking crisis (as Britain's was) are necessarily taking longer to recover.