The British economy showed hints of growth at its weakest rate from 2009 until 2018 because of Brexit uncertainties, increased in oil prices and trade war concerns, according to the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) on Monday. The BCC reduced its growth outlook for this year to 1.3 percent versus the previous 1.4 percent, which coincides with the Reuters’ average poll of economists on June 7 that shows a decrease in 2019 forecast to 1.4 percent. The UK had the weakest performance among other G7 economies at the end of 2017, while during the first quarter of this year, Britain was able to grew by 1.2 percent since 2012 on an annual basis. Moreover, the Bank of England predicts that the economy will expand after its sluggish growth and will reach further to 1.4 percent this year and increase to 1.7 percent in 2019 upon the EU exit. However, the BBC stated that the slow start for this year is worse than the unusual cold weather and also, the weakness was triggered by the BOE rate hikes which was already expected by economists in August. The Deutsche Bundesbank also lowered its growth projection in 2018 to 2.0 percent versus 2.5 percent on Friday, the central bank blames the trade war issues and political upheaval in some parts of the European area. On the other hand, US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on imports for EU’s steel and aluminium as this month begins.
