UK HOUSEHOLD spending rose by 0.8 per cent in the first quarter, official figures have shown, highlighting the extent to which consumers continue to drive the recovery.
The jump in consumer spending was revealed in figures published yesterday by the Office for National Statistics, which confirmed UK gross domestic product rose 0.8 per cent in the opening three months of 2014.
The ONS figures showed business investment, which had been disappointingly weak for an extended period as the economy battled to stage a recovery, rose 2.7 per cent quarter-on-quarter.
The rise in business investment continued a stronger run in recent quarters, and raised hopes among economists that the recovery might at last be becoming more balanced.
UK economic output in the first quarter, in spite of the growth, was 0.6 per cent adrift of its peak in the opening three months of 2008, ahead of the recession, it was noted by consultancy Capital Economics.
But spokesman Samuel Tombs said: "We continue to expect the recovery to broadly maintain its current pace over the coming quarters. Indeed, we continue to expect GDP to grow by about three per cent both this year and next."
A survey published yesterday by the Confederation of British Industry showed continuing strong growth in UK manufacturers' output.
Firms expect even stron-ger growth in output in the coming three months, in spite of the recent rise in sterling and challenges in eurozone markets.
The survey signalled manufacturers' order books were in good shape.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article