The latest figures for business investment were published recently by the ONS. They show that spending on assets such as buildings and machinery by manufacturing and non-manufacturing businesses in the UK decreased by £400m to £30.9bn in the last quarter of 2012 compared with the third quarter.
The fall in business investment was due mainly to scepticism about future economic performance. It is in contrast to an otherwise better overall performance. Household consumption remained low following the Olympics and eurozone problems affected export growth. There was also a slow start to the Christmas season.
Non-manufacturing investment decreased by £300m to £27.6bn compared with Q3 2012. Private sector manufacturing remained more or less unchanged at about £3.3bn.
The annual comparison with Q4 2011 shows investment increased by £100m equivalent to 0.4% growth. Non-manufacturing investment increased by £300m but total manufacturing investment decreased by £150m or 4.4%.
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