THE first UK economic indicators of 2019 are signalling a tough road ahead, with Brexit continuing to dominate and weigh heavily on the household and corporate sectors.
As fears of a no-deal scenario swirled on Friday, with the revelation the UK Government plans to use up to 150 lorries in a “live test” of plans for border disruption in such a scenario, concerns over the UK economy’s health were fuelled further by the latest services sector survey.
The monthly survey, published by the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply and IHS Markit, shows the services sector grew in December at one of the slowest rates recorded over the past two-and-a-half years.
And Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit, observes the latest surveys of the services, construction and manufacturing sectors published this week signal overall UK growth is close to its weakest since the Brexit referendum. He calculates the surveys indicate fourth-quarter expansion of just 0.1 per cent.
CIPS noted worries about the impact of Brexit uncertainty on business investment and consumer demand remained “by far the most prominent issues” cited by services firms.
UK economic expansion has been very weak since the Brexit vote, even worse than the sluggish rates induced by the Conservatives’ ongoing austerity programme before the referendum. So it is worrying growth is running at one of its slowest rates since the June 2016 vote.
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