Carmakers brought forward their annual maintenance shutdowns to April, just after the original date for the UK to leave the EU. Photograph: Jaguar Land Rover/PA

As carmakers and Brexit shutdown, UK economy returns to grow

As the wake of shutdowns for the original Brexit deadline, a one month downturn to return growth in May has been pulled out by the British economy as carmakers keep producing. According to the office for National Statistics, the GDP rose by 0.3% in May with a negative growth 0f 0.4% at car plants.

However, according to some economist British is still on the peak of its first quarterly contraction since 2012 in the middle of the slowdown of world economy. One of the UK’s top economic forecasters, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, stated that they are still expecting a 0.1% fall in GDP.

Between March and May, the economic growth has been unstable and slowed from 0.4% to 0.3%. In this situation, car’s production plays a big role in the monthly figure. By May, the factory output rose by 1.4% after a downfall to 4.2% in April. The ONS stated that car production had risen up the economic growth. However, the production levels are still below the rate from the beginning of 2019.

In order to increase the level of economic growth, many UK’s manufacturers begin to stockpile their good to the original Brexit before 29 March. A disruption to their supply is also expected due to no-deal departure.

Source: https://www.businessfast.co.uk/uk-economy-returns-to-growth-as-carmakers-end-brexit-shutdown/