Economic Indicators, September 2013

GDP is estimated to have grown by 0.7% in Q2 2013 compared with the previous quarter, the biggest quarterly growth since Q3 2012 which was boosted by the Olympics.

This positive news was compounded in August by data from the services industry which showed that output in June was only 0.2% below the pre-recession peak in Q1 2008.

August also saw the Governor of the Bank of England announce that the Bank “intends not to raise the Bank Rate from its current level of 0.5% at least until the [ILO] unemployment rate has fallen to a threshold of 7%.” The Bank does not expect this to happen until mid-2016.