The British economy slowed sharply in the last quarter of 2002, according to new figures from National Statistics (NS) this morning.
The statistics office said it estimates that UK GDP expanded by 0.4pc in the three months to December, down from 0.9pc in the third quarter.
For the whole of 2002, the economy grew by just 1.7pc on a year-on-year basis, the slowest growth in a decade.
The Federal Reserve and the ECB lowered their borrowing costs by 0.50pc last year in response to the global economic slowdown, but the Bank of England held rates steady at 4.0pc. Two of its nine policymakers have voted for rate cuts in the past four meetings.
NS said that the manufacturing sector continued to suffer in the fourth quarter, acting as a drag on the economy, while the services industries grew by 0.6pc.
"In the fourth quarter, the output of the production industries is estimated to fall," NS said today. "Manufacturing and energy and water supply output decreased; oil and gas and other mineral extraction was higher."
It added that there was "moderate growth" in the transport and communication sectors and also in the financial sector. //www.fxcentre.com