Construction output fell 4.3% in August, its sharpest drop since late 2012, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said.
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Housebuilding activity was 5.8pc lower than last August, although the public sector represented all of that fall, with its output down 28.9pc.
The UK’s deficit on trade in goods and services declined from £4.5bn in July to £3.3bn in August, while exports of goods rose by £0.8bn to £23.6bn, driven higher by a £0.6bn increase in auto exports to a record £2.4bn.
Cooling global growth and a strong pound are starting to take their toll on British companies, leaving Bank of England officials in no hurry to raise the benchmark interest rate from a record low.
In the three months to August – smoothing out what is often volatile monthly data – output fell by 0.8 percent, the biggest such decline since March 2013, the ONS said.
Construction contributes about 6% to UK GDP.
There might be better news ahead for the sector.
“This may partly have reflected the wetter-than-usual weather in August, and accordingly could be partly reversed in September”, Capital Economics economist Paul Hollingsworth said.
The drop in construction output was the largest since December 2012, with all categories falling for the first time in five years. The government is seeking to stimulate new house-building. The gulf is GBP1.2 billion narrower than July’s, which was the widest in more than half a year, but both months combined already double the deficit registered in the second quarter.
Including Britain’ surplus in services, the overall deficit fell to 3.268 billion pounds. Economists in the Reuters poll had expected a smaller shortfall of 10.0 billion pounds.
Britain’s trade deficit narrowed sharply between April and June, boosting economic growth in the period.
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LONDON-Trade and construction held back Britain’s economic growth in the third quarter, a fresh batch of official data suggested Friday, confirming earlier signs of a slowdown. Still, in records of their last policy meeting, BOE policymakers said recent economic data is consistent with a “gentle deceleration”, a natural outcome of the economy approaching a balance after emerging from the downturn.
