Latest GDP figures

UK growth figures released today (Tuesday 25 January 2011) show that the economy shrank by 0.5% in the final quarter of 2010. In an additional supplement, the Office of National Statistics estimated that the negative impact was due to the bad weather in December and otherwise economic growth for Q4 would have been flat.

Commenting on the figures, Dr Brian Sloan, Head of Business & Economic Policy at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said: “The Chamber has consistently warned of the difficulties in the construction sector and the detail of these figures shows that once again the construction sector is shrinking, as highlighted by our Quarterly Economic Survey. The prospects for Q1 are also worrying as our survey expects the region’s economy to continue to slow down and unemployment to increase in the coming months.

“The fact that economic growth this quarter would otherwise have been flat is a grave concern. The Chamber anticipated that Q1 would be a difficult quarter for the UK economy and therefore the Government must do more now to restore confidence as public sector job losses continue and tax rises in April will put more downward pressure on growth. The policy landscape is changing rapidly with no clear understanding of the consequences, damaging business and consumer confidence. A good start to restoring confidence would be to address the relentless onslaught of fuel duty rises, amongst the many factors increasing business costs, in the coming Budget. Talk will inevitably turn to speculation over whether the economy is about to witness a double dip recession. Technically there is now a possibility that this will happen, though we remain confident that the outlook for 2011 is positive.”