Britain’s economy grew at half the rate of the eurozone’s during the second quarter of 2017, as a Brexit-fuelled spike in inflation lowered consumer spending, according to new official statistics.
The UK economy expanded by 0.3 percent in the three months to the end of June, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed on Thursday.
Economic growth over the same period in the eurozone – a monetary union of 19 of the 28 EU member states which have adopted the euro — was 0.6 percent, according to an estimate by Eurostat.
The UK economy displayed surprising resilience in the immediate aftermath of last June’s referendum to exit the EU, but a recent jump in inflation has diminished consumer spending and pushed Britain’s growth rate to the lowest of the G7 group of major advanced economies.
Economists, strategists and think tanks have recently slashed their growth forecasts for the full year and many expect that the pound…