UK economy grew 0.4% in July

[LONDON] Britain’s economy grew 0.4 per cent in July, monthly figures from the Office for National Statistics showed on Friday (Sep 11).

Economists polled by Reuters had a median forecasts for the level gross domestic product in July to be unchanged from June.

In the first half of 2026, Britain’s economy expanded by 1 per cent, the fastest growth across the Group of Seven large advanced economies – although some analysts believe this may in part reflect seasonal effects that have not been fully adjusted for.

In July, the Bank of England (BOE) forecast the economy would expand 1.1 per cent over 2026 as a whole, and earlier this week Governor Andrew Bailey told a parliament committee that economic data since then had come in “a bit stronger” than he had expected.

Britain, like other European economies, has taken less of an immediate hit to growth from the US-Iran war than economists had feared at the outset.

But the conflict this week pushed oil prices above US$105 a barrel with knock-on impacts on government borrowing costs, and the BOE expects inflation to rise to around 3.2 per cent later this year. REUTERS