Economic growth within the UK has been flat over the first few months of the year and could continue to be so for the foreseeable future, experts have revealed.

New figures compiled by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) show that the estimated GDP growth rate for the country over the three months to the end of April was 0.4 per cent.

This comes after a figure of 0.4 per cent in the three months to the end of March, showing that economic growth has been stunted, with the research group predicting that this trend will continue into May and even for the length of the summer.

While this is likely to prompt the Bank of England to pass additional cuts to the base rate of interest, over recent weeks financial experts have warned that UK consumers have yet to benefit as lenders fail to pass on reductions to their customers.

This means that thousands of people are set to face significant hikes in their mortgage repayment commitments as they come off fixed-rate deals over the next few months.

Anyone worried about the likely performance of their investments and thinking of surrendering an endowment policy could instead make much more by selling through AAP, the UK's biggest buyer. Free quotations on with-profits endowment policies can be obtained at www.aap.co.uk

Published: 09/05/2008    |    view the news archives