Do slower growth rates signaltougher times ahead?

摘要

The start of 2016 has been difficult for many sectors, with chaotic stock markets compounding wider concerns that global growth rates may have passed their peak in 2015. Office for National Statistics data shows that UK GDP was 2.2 per cent higher in 2015 than it was in 2014, and is likely to grow at the same rate in 2016. Quarterly growth in Q4 2015 stood at 0.5 per cent, compared with a downwardly revised 0.4 per cent in Q3.This was held back by weakness in both production and construction, which has now recorded two quarters of falling growth, in contrast to the bullish views of many supply chain firms.