Economy watchers expecting positive GDP news
THE UK economy is expected to have grown strongly in the first quarter, rising by its highest level in nearly four years.
Estimates from the Office of National Statistics suggest gross domestic product (GDP) will have grown by 0.9%. The figure will be announced later this morning.
It will mark the fifth consecutive period of GDP growth and the longest since before the financial crisis.
GDP grew 0.7% in the final quarter of 2013 and the strong figures follow the Bank of England’s revised estimate of the UK’s economic growth to 1% for the first quarter of this year.
Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund said it expects the UK to be the best-performing of the world’s largest economies in 2014, with growth of 2.9% for the year.
On the back of these positive figures, analysts are predicting that the Bank of England will raise its interest rate, which has been kept at a record low of 0.5%.
