Q2 GDP revised up to 0.7%
Friday, August 23, 2013 at 9:38AM Click here for our Clash of the Titans page.
Q2 '13 GDP Growth (Second Estimate): 0.7%
Average Prediction: 0.3
Number of Correct Forecasts: 5/310
Current Greek Bond Yield Low: 8.13 (22nd May)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released its second estimate for GDP during Q2 2013 and has revised its original figure up by 0.1 percentage points to 0.7%. This is a small change but an encouraging one for the UK economy.
The ONS cites that all groupings within GDP showed positive growth during Q2 2013, rather than there being one dominant industry sector as has previously been seen, although construction output increased by 1.4% in Q2 2013. This is an upwards revision from the previous forecast of 0.9%. The last time that all industries experienced quarterly growth simultaneously was nearly three years ago in Q3 2010.
This news should be encouraging for households and businesses, leading to higher confidence and ultimately, higher levels of expenditure in the economy throughout the coming quarters.
This small revision has had little effect on the competition standings, except to give a boost to the roughly 15% of forecasters who thought GDP growth would be higher than 0.6% this quarter. Only 5 people correctly predicted a growth rate of 0.7% - down from 10 before this latest revision.
The final estimate for Q2 GDP will be released on 26th September, and we may see another small revision then. Before that, we will get official confirmation on 5th September that the Bank of England will keep interest rates at 0.5% for the 18th consecutive quarter. Any variation from 0.5% would be a major surprise, given that Governor Mark Carney has announced that the Bank will keep rates low until unemployment falls further.
Click here for a summary of the results so far, or here for the full standings.