UK economic growth 'to halve this year'
The rate of growth for the UK economy during 2008 will be half that seen last year, an economics consultancy has predicted. A report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) forecasts that the UK economy will expand by 1.5 per cent this year - less than half the rate of growth of 3.1 per cent seen in 2007. In a previous report CEBR had predicted growth of 1.8 per cent, but said it had downgraded its forecast as a result of the slowing housing market and turbulence in the financial markets. Richard Snook, one of the report's authors, and economist at CEBR, said: "We expect the economy to take a large knock from the financial market turbulence, with the housing market slowdown, tight household finances and weakening government spend all assisting in producing a poor performance."Earlier this month, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) also downwardly adjusted its growth projections for 2008. The CBI now expects the economy to expand by 1.8 per cent down from its previous prediction of two per cent.
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