Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
LONDON (AP) — Britain's economic growth slowed to a quarterly rate of 0.3 percent in the January-March period, a drop that will be seen as a setback to the Conservative-led coalition only days before a general election.
The Office of National Statistics said Tuesday that the quarter-on-quarter growth rate was half of the 0.6 percent seen in the last quarter of 2014.
The data was released days ahead of the May 7 election, which has been fought largely on which party is best placed to secure the economic recovery following the 2008 financial crisis.
The U.K. statistics agency says output decreased in construction, production and agriculture and growth slowed in the services sector.
However, analyst Vicki Redwood from Capital Economics deems it unlikely the economy is on the cusp of sustained slowdown.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
