The UK economy suffers setback
Figures released today by the Office for National Statistics show that industrial production in the UK fell by 0.5% in June against analyst's forecasts of an increase of 0.2% for the month. Even though much of the reduction in industrial production can be put down to the fact that the oil and gas sector closed down early for its seasonal shutdown there are signs that other areas of the UK economy are perhaps not as buoyant as many had expected.
Manufacturing output in the UK over the same period increased by just 0.3% which was less than analyst had expected and was somewhat disappointing. This is the production figure which strips out the impact of mining, oil, gas and utilities to give a less volatile trend in UK manufacturing output. These figures do not seem to stack up against gross domestic product numbers which indicated a stronger recovery in the UK economy over the last few months.
However, as ever, analysts are unlikely to take the figures from one survey in isolation, preferring to see the creation of a trend in the UK economy before making their forecasts for the short, medium and longer term. Slowly but surely we should begin to see the formation of a trend, whether this trend is upwards or downwards remains to be seen!
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