Financial News: UK Q2 GDP Expands 0.6% As Expected

UK Q2 GDP Expands 0.6% As Expected

(RTTNews) - The UK economy expanded again in the second quarter but the pace of growth moderated slightly due to the contractions in industrial and construction output, data from the Office for National Statistics showed on Thursday.

Real gross domestic product grew 0.6 percent in the three months to June, following the 0.7 percent expansion seen in the first quarter. Growth came in line with expectations.

The quarterly growth was driven by the widespread improvement in the services sector. In the second quarter, services output moved up 0.8 percent while, industrial and construction output dropped 0.1 percent each.

On a yearly basis, the economy expanded 0.9 percent in the second quarter as expected.

In June, the economy stagnated after expanding 0.4 percent in May. A 0.1 percent fall in the dominant services output was offset by the 0.8 percent increase in industrial output and 0.5 percent increase in construction output.

The annual economic growth halved to 0.7 percent in June from 1.4 percent in May.

Despite the slowdown in growth in the second quarter, the Bank of England will keep its interest rate unchanged at 5.00 percent at the next policy meeting in September, Capital Economics' economist Ashley Webb said.

However, PMI data suggested that economic growth slowed at the beginning of the third quarter, lending a bit more support to the view that interest rates will be cut twice more this year, to 4.50 percent.

The visible trade deficit widened to GBP 18.89 billion in June from GBP 18.59 billion in the previous month, the ONS said in a separate report.

Driven by an increase in the services surplus to GBP 13.57 billion, the total trade gap decreased to GBP 5.32 billion from GBP 5.77 billion in May.

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