Britain's economic recovery will be uneven but the coalition government is as committed as ever to slashing a record budget deficit, finance minister George Osborne has said.
The Bank of England said in its quarterly inflation report today that the near-term outlook for growth had worsened since February. Official data published last month showed the economy effectively stood still in the six months spanning the turn of the year.
'The recovery will be choppy,' Osborne told an audience of business leaders in London. 'High commodity prices, the earthquakes in Japan and uncertainty in the euro zone are all weighing down on growth across the world.'
Osborne underlined the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government's determination to tackle a budget deficit running close to 10% of national output.
'We in this government, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, are as united today in our mission to reduce Britain's deficit as we have ever been,' he said.
UK's trade gap widens in March
Britain's goods trade deficit widened more than expected in March, giving back some of the strong improvement seen in the first two months.
The Office for National Statistics said that Britain's goods trade gap widened to £7.66 billion sterling from £6.99 billion in February, some way above the £7.25 billion economists had expected.
The total trade deficit, which includes services where Britain is traditionally stronger, also widened on the month.
However, on a quarterly basis, the total trade deficit fell to its lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2009, suggesting net trade still made a decent contribution to first-quarter growth.
On the quarter, UK exports grew 4.2% while imports slipped 0.6%.
The improvement in the underlying trend will provide some relief to policymakers who have pinned their hoped of economic recovery on Britain exporting more at a time of weak domestic demand.
