NIESR estimates GDP growth slowed to 0.4 percent in January
LONDON - British economic growth slowed in the three months to January, driven by weak industrial output, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research said on Wednesday.
NIESR estimated that Britain's economy grew at a quarterly rate of 0.4 percent in the three months to January, down from 0.5 percent in the last three months of 2015.
Official industrial output data for December, released earlier in the day, showed the sharpest monthly decline in industrial output in more than three years.
"The softening of growth in the three months to January was primarily driven by weakness in the production sector at the end of last year," NIESR researcher James Warren said.
"Despite our estimates indicating a subdued start ... we do expect the economy to grow by 2.3 percent this year, primarily driven by consumer spending. However, negative contributions from net trade are expected to weigh heavily," he added.
Britain's goods trade deficit reached a record 125.0 billion pounds last year.
(Reporting by David Milliken, editing by Andy Bruce)
