May 2015 GDP Estimate

Our monthly estimates of GDP suggest that output grew by 0.4 per cent in the three months ending in April after growth of 0.3 per cent in the three months ending in March 2015. We expect the slight softening of GDP growth experienced in the first quarter of this year to be temporary and forecast the UK economy will expand by 2½ per cent for the year as a whole.*

* NIESR’s latest quarterly forecast (published 6th May 2015) projects GDP growth of 2.5 per cent per annum in 2015 and 2.4 per cent in 2016 (see http://niesr.ac.uk/media for the associated press release).