© Reuters.
Investing.com – The british pound has fallen to its lowest on Monday after data showing that the uk economy has slowed sharply over the last three months of 2018 as a result of concerns about the impact of Brexit.
The GBP / USD fell 0.36% to 1,2899 to 05: 03 (01h03 GMT) against around 1,2931 earlier.
The Office for National Statistics has reported that the quarterly growth rate had eased to 0.2% in the quarter ending in December, after 0.6% in the previous quarter. This figure was lower than the forecasts of 0.3%, and slightly lower than that estimated by the Bank of England last week.
“The GDP has slowed over the last three months of the year, the manufacture of automobiles and steel products registering declines and the construction is in decline,” said the statistician of the NSO, Rob Kent-Smith.
For the whole of 2018, the growth has dropped to its lowest level since 2012 to 1.4%, against 1.8% in 2017.
Exports have been hit by weak global and consumers and businesses have been increasingly concerned by the lack of a plan for the departure of Great Britain from the 29 march to the european Union.
Last week, the BoE lowered its growth forecast this year to 1.2%, which would be the weakest growth since the 2009 recession.
In December alone, the economy contracted 0.4%, the biggest decline since march 2016.
Less than seven weeks prior to the deadline for the Brexit, the first british minister Theresa May has failed to get the support of the Parliament to the withdrawal agreement that it had entered into with Brussels.
The euro reached its highest level of the day against the british pound, with EUR / GBP rising 0.21% to trade at 0,8761.
– Reuters contributed to this report
