Period covered: February 18Published: February 28, 2018Read time: 1min

Economic Monitor

INFLATION LOOKS SET TO FALL, BUT IT WILL DO LITTLE TO LIFT SPENDING

• Q4 GDP growth was revised downwards to 0.4 per cent, bringing the economy’s growth rate for 2017 to 1.7 per cent.
• Annual CPI inflation stood at 3 per cent in January, the same level as in December 2017 and above the inflation level of January 2017 of 1.8 per cent.
• Wage growth continues to lag behind inflation: in the three months to December 2017, earnings grew by 2.5 per cent year on year, a similar increase as in December 2016.
• Unemployment increased to 4.4 per cent over the three months to December from the three months to November figure of 4.3 per cent, but down from 4.8 per cent for a year earlier.
• Regional unemployment: unemployment was 5 percent or over for five regions: London (5.0%), Wales (5.0%), Yorkshire (5.1%), North East (5.3%) and West Midlands (5.4%). Compared to a year ago, unemployment was higher in Wales (5.0% vs. 4.5%) and the South West (3.7% vs. 3.6%).
• Bank of England kept interest rates unchanged at 0.5% during its last MPC meeting, though it signalled that an increase is likely to be implemented in May.