Growth estimate from NIESR

  • Q3 estimate +0.5%

They note that poor weather in March dragged down Q1 and that's now dropped out.

As for the pickup in Q3, they say: "Recent evidence suggests that the manufacturing and construction sectors are recovering after a particularly weak start to the year, and the dominant services sector is set to grow slightly faster than in the recent past."

Amit Kara, Head of UK macroeconomic forecasting, said "The economy is showing clear signs of recovering from the unexpected slowdown in the first quarter. Taking the business surveys together, we believe that this recovery will be most noticeable in manufacturing and construction where output should start to increase once more. Overall though, we continue to expect the economy to grow broadly in line with its potential in the second and third quarters and not by enough to compensate for the slowdown in the first quarter."