NIESR forecasts GDP growth of 0.6% for three months ending February

The UK's GDP is set to record growth of 0.6% for the three months ending February 2017, according to an estimate from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.

Britain's economy grew by 0.8% during the quarter ending in January 2017, so the latest figure of 0.6% would represent a modest slowdown in growth as the country heads towards complex negotiations to steer it out of the European Union.

The latest quarterly forecast from the NIESR predicted that annual GDP growth would reach 2% in 2016 and 1.7% in 2017.

NIESR Research Fellow Rebecca Piggott attributed the pace of expansion to February to strong consumer spending, but added that increasing CPI would limit its contribution in months to come.

"Our estimates suggest the economy expanded by 0.6 per cent in the three months ending in February 2017," Piggott said.

"Robust consumer spending growth has supported the economic expansion throughout 2016, but there are now signs that this support is beginning to soften."

"Consumer price inflation is expected to continue to increase throughout the rest of 2017, further reducing the contribution from consumer spending to economic growth. A key question is by how much and over what period of time this domestic economic weakness can be offset via contributions of net trade."

Earlier on Friday, figures released by the ONS showed a 0.9% contraction for British manufacturing during January compared with the previous month. Construction output fell 0.4%, more than what was initially expected.