UK economy enjoyed short-term boost from Trump's tariff confusion
The UK economy is expected to grow 1 per cent this year, according to the EY Item Club, which had previously anticipated a rise in gross domestic product of only 0.8 per cent.
The forecaster attributed its upgrade to a 'flurry of business spending' at the start of the year as companies tried to complete purchases and ship orders before the implementation of US tariffs in April.
'There was some activity and some additional exports brought forward and that lifted [the economy] in the first quarter, but you can see from the size of the upgrade that the outperformance wasn't massive,' Matt Swannell, chief economic adviser to the EY Item Club, said.
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