British economy on the mend

British economy is on a track for a long-awaited period of economic expansion, record-low borrowing costs and, finally, falling inflation. On Thursday figures showed the economy grew at double the rate of the first quarter, laying to rest any concerns of a slowdown, as the nation's GDP accelerated to 0.6% in Q2. Nonetheless, the output remains 3.3% smaller than its pre-crisis levels, and is still struggling to make up the lost ground. The modest second-quarter growth heralded an easier economic outlook for domestic hard-pressed households, as economists now expect consumer prices to decelerate back from 2.9% toward 2% by the end of this year, meeting the Bank of England target level. The newly-appointed Governor of the BoE Mark Carney already pledged to unveil a conditional commitment to leave rates on record-low to help borrowers clear their debts. Economists from the Centre for Economics and Business Research, which will impact on the government's official estimates, expect the growth to top 1% in 2013, compared with official projections of just 0.6% expansion. Based on the upbeat mood, it is expected the ONS can upgrade its growth forecasts as it collects more data. Despite the many bright spots, analysts are still concerned that the recovery remains fragile. Hence, all manufacturing, construction and services sectors, which all recorded growth in the second quarter, remain below its pre-crisis levels by 10.2%, 17.3% and 0.3%, consequently.