Economists James Knightley and James Smith at Dutch lender ING have compiled a handy "dashboard" showing the health of six key indicators in the economy.
- Britain's economy has slowed rapidly since the Brexit vote.
- But where does the UK economy stand heading into 2018?
- Economists James Knightley and James Smith at Dutch lender ING have compiled a handy "dashboard" showing the health of six key indicators in the economy.
LONDON – Eighteen months on from Britain's vote to leave the European Union, and the British economy has confounded the predictions redictions that the country would collapse into a recession after the Brexit vote.
The economy however, has slowed markedly, facing uncertainty from all corners.
Uncertainty around Brexit pushed businesses to delay spending, and inflation caused by the weak pound made spending more expensive for consumers.
Most economists now think inflation has peaked, and the IMF said on Wednesday that it expects the UK's to grow at around 1.5% in 2018 — not bad, but not fantastic either.
But where does the UK economy stand heading into 2018? Thankfully, economists James Knightley and James Smith at Dutch lender ING have compiled a handy "dashboard" showing the health of six key indicators in the economy.
The indicators — inflation, consumer spending, hiring, wage growth, investment, and manufacturing — provide a reasonable snapshot of where things stand right now.
Perhaps the most interesting of ING's indicators is consumer spending. Consumers have been in recent years, the main drivers of Britain's economic growth, but Brexit has started to slow that story, and according to data released earlier this week, consumers are now more pessimistic about their personal finances than at any point in the last four years.
"After a remarkable run in 2016, spending has slowed significantly as real wages fall. Shoppers remain cautious on non-essentials, which will keep a lid on growth as we head into the new year," Knightley and Smith write.
Check out the full dashboard below: