UK growth rate downgrade blamed on 'Beast'
The annual rate of growth in the UK economy has been downgraded because of a bigger-than-expected hit from last winter's snow. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that while gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the second quarter had been left unchanged at 0.4% following its latest revision, it had cut its estimate for output during the previous three months.It now calculated that disruption, particularly to the construction sector, from the so-called 'Beast from the East' was worse than originally anticipated. Image: Housebuilding suffered during the cold wintry weather of February and March It revised growth between January to March to a figure of just 0.1% from 0.2%.It meant, the ONS said, that the annu...