INSTANT VIEW - Economy slows in first quarter as expected

Fri Apr 25, 2008 9:53am BST

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LONDON (Reuters) - The economy decelerated in the first quarter, as expected, to record its weakest quarterly rate of growth in three years, the Office for

National Statistics said on Friday.

Britain is the first of the G7 group of leading industrialised nations to report on its economic performance this year.

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KEY POINTS

- Weakest quarter-on-quarter rate of growth since Q1 2005

- Growth in business services and finance slowed to 0.4

percent on the quarter, the weakest rate since Q2 2003

- The ONS said GDP growth had been driven by services, although there was a deceleration in this sector, along with a Continued...

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