The British economy slowed to its weakest annual pace of growth in more than a year in the first quarter of 2005 as industrial output contracted for the third quarter in a row, official data showed on Friday. The Office for National Statistics said gross domestic product rose by 0.6 percent in the first three months of the year after a 0.7 percent expansion in the previous quarter, as expected.
That took the annual growth rate to 2.8 percent, the slowest since the fourth quarter of 2003 but the figures are unlikely to settle the debate over whether the Bank of England will need to raise interest rates again to keep inflation down.
Many analysts are predicting a quarter point increase in rates from the current 4.75 percent either next month or in June but a marked slowdown in consumer spending could make policymakers hold off.
Industrial production fell by 0.1 percent again, thanks partly to a sharp fall in electricity output as temperatures were warmer than usual at the start of the year.
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