"The steep [economic] contraction ... heaps further pressure on the government to come up with more measures to boost growth …"
- Howard Archer at IHS Global Insight
The U.K. economy contracted more than forecast in the second quarter, said the Office for National Statistics on Thursday. GDP shrunk 0.7 per cent, compared with the previous quarter, driven by weakness in the productions and construction sectors.
"Terrible data. Frankly there's nothing good that comes out of these numbers at all ... The economy looks to be badly holed below the water line at this stage. It's a far worse period of activity than we'd expected," said Peter Dixon, economist at Commerzbank.
"The steep contraction ... heaps further pressure on the government to come up with more measures to boost growth, and will undoubtedly lead to further calls for the fiscal squeeze to be eased until the economy is on a firmer footing," said Howard Archer at IHS Global Insight.
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