The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee had expected growth of 0.4 per cent in the second quarter BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty ImagesThe economy has experienced a “notable slowdown” in the first six months of this year, official figures have revealed, effectively killing off the chance of an interest rate rise by the Bank of England next week. The economy grew by 0.3 per cent in the second quarter, according to an initial estimate by the Office for National Statistics. This was a minimal improvement from the sluggish 0.2 per cent growth recorded in the first three months of the year, which was the slowest quarterly growth of any nation in either the European Union or G7. Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit, said: “These meagre growth rates indicate that the economy has lost momentum in 2017 and will fail to achieve the 1.8 per…

Source: The Times July 26, 2017 23:02 UTC