- Citigroup
UK economic growth for the fourth quarter of 2014 has been revised upwards, helped by stronger than initially estimated consumer spending and foreign trade. According to the final data, Britain's GDP gained 0.6% in three months through December, a positive revision from 0.5% seen in the preliminary projection. Moreover, country's economy surged 3% during October-December time period from a year earlier, up from 2.7% forecasted before. All in all, the economy climbed 2.8% in 2014 and is currently exceeding its pre-crisis peak of 2008 by 3.7%. Among GDP components, the most positive impetus came from household spending which increased 0.6% in Q4, as well as exports which jumped 4.6%, the fastest advance since 2013. Both these indicators were reviewed to the upside, while data for services and manufacturing industries remained unchanged from the preliminary numbers. With imports rising just 1.6%, net trade alone managed to lift UK annual GDP by 0.9% last quarter. Nevertheless, business investment provided a sign of concern as it subtracted 0.9% from Q4 growth. Meanwhile, UK current account was published worse than projected for a ninth consecutive quarter. In October-December, the deficit narrowed to –25.3 billion pounds, better than downward-revised –27.7 billion pounds in Q3, but worse than –21.2 billion pounds estimated by economists. Despite falling trade deficit, the indicator was offset by a widening shortfall on the secondary income account.
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