According to the latest forecast from the Organisation of Economic Co–operation and Development (OECD), the UK will have the fastest rate of economic growth of any G7 major nation by the middle of the year, with an annualised growth rate forecast of 3.3 per cent.
At this rate, Britain will outpace the US, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Canada, the OECD says, giving the UK a quarterly rate of growth of around 0.8 per cent in both the first and second quarters, an acceleration from the 0.7 per cent rate of growth in the last quarter of 2013.
This forecast is borne out by separate data from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), which suggests that the UK’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by up to 0.8 per cent in the three months ending in February. The Institute also suggested that GDP should rise above its pre-crisis peak later this year, a prediction already made by the British Chambers of Commerce.
In addition, separate data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that manufacturers did not allow the extreme weather conditions to derail their recovery in January, with factory output up 0.4 per cent on a monthly basis, a slightly stronger result than the 0.3 per cent forecast by economists.
However, the ONS also reported that industrial output slowed to 0.1 per cent in January from the previous month and that production was below the expectation of 0.2 per cent and down from a 0.5 per cent growth rate recorded in December. This was mainly due to a sharp 5.8 per cent fall in oil and gas extraction, as the severe weather conditions hampered North Sea production.