‘Last hurrah’ for economy

THE UK economy grew faster in the final quarter of 2016 than initially thought, but economists say it could be the last hurrah.

The Office for National Statistics will say on Friday that it grew 0.7 per cent, slightly quicker than its first estimate of 0.6 per cent.

But retail sales figures last week showed a marked slowdown in shoppers’ spending in January and economists believe inflation, caused by the pound’s fall since the Brexit vote, may now affect growth. Howard Archer, chief UK economist at forecaster IHS Global insight, said: ‘The resilience of the economy has largely been due to the fact that consumers have kept spending – but falling retail sales in January fuels belief that consumers are now starting to rein in spending.’