LONDON (MNI) – UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has
welcomed data that show the UK hauled itself out of recession in the
third quarter of 2012, but warned that the country still has a long way
to go to before it returns to full health.
“There is still a long way to go, but these figures show we are on
the right track. This another sign that the economy is healing and we
have the right approach,” Osborne said.
Osborne also warned that recent weak data from the eurozone were a
reminder that the UK still faces many economic challenges at home and
abroad.
Figures from National Statistics showed the UK economic growth
bounced back strongly in the third quarter to rise at its fastest pace
for five years, helped by Olympic ticket sales.
While the outturn beat the market expectation significantly and
takes the UK out of recession, looking through a lot of the special
factors means underlying growth remains weak. A rough guide is that
taking into consideration the Jubilee impact in Q2 and the Olympic
ticket sales, underlying growth in Q3 was more like 0.3% on the quarter.
While it puts growth a little above where the Bank of England
thought it would in Q3, policymakers are likely to want to look through
the data and focus on core growth in terms of policy. Output since Q4
2011 has only rise 0.3% — well below trend growth.
–London newsroom: 00 44 20 7862 7492;e-mail: ukeditorial@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$B$$$,M$$BE$]
