Pre-Brexit rush by manufacturers boosts UK economy in first quarter
LONDON - Britain’s economy got a sharp one-off boost in the first three months of 2019, official figures showed on Friday, as manufacturers rushed to deliver orders before a Brexit that never came.
Year-on-year GDP growth picked up to an 18-month high of 1.8% in early 2019, up from 1.4% in the last three months of 2018, Britain’s Office for National Statistics said. “Some businesses brought activity forward early this year in preparation for leaving the EU, so higher stocks and earlier orders have artificially bumped up the growth numbers.”
The ONS data showed businesses bought an extra 4.6 billion pounds worth of stocks in the first quarter, the biggest increase since late 2016, which statisticians said added 0.7 percentage points to the first-quarter growth rate. Last week BoE Governor Mark Carney said he expected growth to fall back to 0.2% during the current quarter as the one-off boost from stock-building faded and businesses continued to hold off from investment as economic uncertainty lingers.
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