Despite being surprisingly resilient to Brexit concerns in the run up to 2019, Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, forecasts a period of turbulence for the economy as the UK heads towards unchartered waters
The UK economy has shown remarkable resilience in recent months and many forecasters are even anticipating growth to gather momentum in 2017. However, cracks are starting to appear that may undermine that resilience, and political risks pose major challenges to the outlook.
There is consequently an unusual degree of uncertainty as to whether the economy will accelerate or slow in 2017. Our suspicion is the latter.
One look at the headline numbers and it is clear that the UK economy has fared better than expected in the wake of last June’s decision to leave the EU.
The latest official data shows gross domestic product surged 0.7% in the final quarter of 2016 and the employment rate hit its highest since data collection began in 1971.
