A succinct summary (and a 6 minute video) of the key UK macro numbers ahead of the exams!

Snapshot of the UK Economy

• GDP growth in 2016: 1.8% (down from 2.2% in 2015)
• Consumer spending grew 2.8%, investment only 0.8%, exports grew 1.8%
• Unemployment: 4.6% of labour force - lowest for 40 years
• 31.8 million people in work, 4.8m self employed, 1.6m temps
• Inflation rate 2.7% (Euro Area inflation was just 0.2)
• Budget deficit = £52 billion (2.6% of GDP) – down by £20 bn in a year
• National debt = £1,730 billion, 87% of GDP
• Productivity rose only 0.3% in 2016
• Base interest rates – 0.25% cut from 0.5% by MPC in August 2016
• Bank of England quantitative easing £445 bn
• Sterling exchange rate depreciated by 11% during 2016
• Pay: Median gross weekly earnings was £539, up 2% over year
• FTSE-100 index has reached record highs in recent weeks – now over 7,500
• Average UK house price = £225,000 – up 6% over the last year
• UK trade balance: Surplus of £97 bn on trade in services was outweighed by deficit of £134 bn on trade in goods in 2016. Overall deficit of £37 bn
• Current account deficit was £84 bn in 2016 (a deficit of 4.4% of GDP)