{"id":2252,"date":"2018-09-17T02:36:04","date_gmt":"2018-09-17T02:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/uk-growth-forecast-trimmed-by-british-chambers-of-commerce\/"},"modified":"2018-09-17T02:36:04","modified_gmt":"2018-09-17T02:36:04","slug":"uk-growth-forecast-trimmed-by-british-chambers-of-commerce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/uk-growth-forecast-trimmed-by-british-chambers-of-commerce\/","title":{"rendered":"UK growth forecast trimmed by British Chambers of Commerce"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div property=\"articleBody\">\n<figure class=\"media-landscape no-caption full-width lead\"><span class=\"image-and-copyright-container\"><\/p>\n<p>                <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"js-image-replace\" alt=\"Containers in Southampton\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/320\/cpsprodpb\/6D83\/production\/_99953082_mediaitem99953080.jpg\" width=\"976\" height=\"549\"\/><span class=\"off-screen\">Image copyright<\/span><br \/>\n                 <span class=\"story-image-copyright\">Reuters<\/span><\/p>\n<p>            <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"story-body__introduction\">The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has lowered its UK growth forecast, and warns by 2020 the economy will have experienced its second-weakest decade.<\/p>\n<p>The BCC has lowered its GDP forecast for 2018 from 1.3% to 1.1% and in 2019 from 1.4% to 1.3%. Its forecast for 2020 is unchanged at 1.6% growth. <\/p>\n<p>The downgrades are driven by a weaker outlook for trade and investment. <\/p>\n<p>Exporters face more subdued growth over continued Brexit uncertainty and slower growth in key markets, it says.<\/p>\n<p>It adds that the high upfront cost of doing business in the UK and the ongoing uncertainty over the UK&#8217;s future relationship with the EU are expected to continue to stifle business investment.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">&#8216;Brexit clarity needed&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;Despite strong performances by some firms, the UK economy as a whole is set to grow at a snail&#8217;s pace,&#8221; said Dr Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Brexit uncertainty continues to weigh heavily on many firms, as most of the practical questions facing trading businesses remain unanswered. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The lack of precision on the nature of the UK&#8217;s future relationship with the EU is lowering expectations for both business investment and export growth.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The drag effect on investment and trade would intensify in the event of a &#8216;messy&#8217; and disorderly Brexit. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Businesses need the Brexit negotiations to deliver clarity, precision and results at pace over the coming weeks.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">Skills gaps<\/h2>\n<p>The BCC says the government must now work to bolster business confidence, slash costs, and encourage business investment. <\/p>\n<p>The labour market is expected to continue to be a source of strength for the economy, with the unemployment rate predicted to remain close to its record low.<\/p>\n<p>But the BCC warns firms will face &#8220;significant&#8221; skills gaps, undermining their potential to grow.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile workers are unlikely to experience meaningful real wage growth as the gap between pay and price growth is forecast to remain negligible.<\/p>\n<p>It says it now sees interest rates reaching 1.25% by 2020.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/business-45541487\">Source<\/a> by <a href=\"\">[author_name]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image copyright Reuters The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has lowered its UK growth forecast, and warns by 2020 the economy will have experienced its second-weakest decade. The BCC has lowered its GDP forecast for 2018 from 1.3% to 1.1% and in 2019 from 1.4% to 1.3%. Its forecast for 2020 is unchanged at 1.6% &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}