UK GDP Falls by 0.5% - 24.8.2012

The British pound lost some ground yesterday against the dollar falling from a 3-month high 1.5911, and dropped a bit lower by the beginning of Friday’s European trading session, touching 1.5823. Today the UK Statistics Office released its second economic growth estimate for the second quarter. The GDP fell by 0.5% quarterly and by 0.5% annually. Although both numbers are negative, they are better compared to the previous estimates of -0.7% and -0.8% respectively. The nation’s economy therefore is showing two consecutive quarters of contraction in annual figures and three quarters in quarterly figures. The current drop is the strongest since the last quarter of 2009. The British pound however is showing strong performance versus the dollar. The currency has strengthened by 2.7% against the greenback since the beginning of August and by more than 2% since January.