Call for Rate Cut as Manufacturing Declines
Business groups are calling for a cut in interest rates after official figures showed that British manufacturing output has fallen for the fifth month in a row. The 9 September report from the Office for National Statistics revealed that UK manufacturing output dropped 0.2% between June and July – twice as much as anticipated by economic analysts. Separate figures released on the same day by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research suggested output across the UK economy as a whole fell by 0.2% between June and August. Paris–based think tank, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, added weight to the belief that the UK economy is already in recession by forecasting that it will shrink by 0.4% in the final three months of the year. Economic advis... »