GERD Increased By 5%

Gross domestic expenditure on research and development increased by 5% in 2011 to £27.4bn according to the ONS. When adjustments are made for inflation the increase is 2% compared with 2010.

The business sector made by far the biggest increase in current price terms with an increase of 8% to £17.4bn compared with 2010 and 6% when adjustments are made for inflation. Research in higher education, including universities higher education institutes also increased by 2% to £7.1bn compared with 2010 and after adjustments for inflation the increase is 0.2%.

Government and research councils, including Defra and the Department of Health and the 7 research councils, accounted for 9% of total expenditure. The research councils R&D expenditure fell by 11% from £1.2bn in 2010 to £1bn in 2011.

Private non-profit organisations which includes charities and trusts in mainly health and medical research include some of the biggest in the world. It is the smallest R&D sector in the UK spending £0.5bn or 2% of total UK R&D spend in 2011.

Gross national expenditure on R&D can also be divided between the civil and defence sectors. The civil sector accounted for 93% of R&D expenditure in 2011, a total of £25.4bn an increase of 5%.

Growth In The Services Sector

The latest services index from the ONS suggests that the services industry grew by 1.2% in November 2012 compared with November 2011. Three of the four main components were estimated to have grown. The biggest contributions to the growth were from government and other services with growth of 2% and distribution, hotels and restaurants with 2.7% growth. The monthly analysis says that between October and November there was no change in output.

Business services and finance grew by 0.6% over the year with the main contributions to the growth coming from administrative and support service activities with growth of 6.8% and other professional services up by 0.9%.

Estimated 1% Growth In GDP In Q3

GDP was estimated to have increased by 1% in the third quarter of the year compared with the previous quarter according to a statistical bulletin from the ONS. Production increased by 1.1%, construction decreased by 2.5% and services increased by 1.3%. Manufacturing contributed the most to the increase in production and agriculture increased by 2.2%. In the services sector distribution, hotels and restaurants grew by 1.6% as did government and other services, business services and finance contributed 1% growth and transport, storage and communiaction 0.8%.

Fall Of 0.2% In GDP

The preliminary estimates of GDP published by the ONS show that GDP fell by 0.2% in the first quarter of 2012. Output fell in the production and construction indistries by 0.4% and 3% respectively but services grew by 0.1% following a decrease of 0.1% in the previous quarter. A closer analysis shows that the decreases in the production industries were driven by mining and quarrying and manufacturing. An increase in retail and food and beverage services contributed to the 0.1% increase in the distribution, hotels and restaurants sector and computer programming, consultancy and related services and motion picture, video and television production also made a significant contribution to the increase of 0.4% in transport, storage and communication. Financial services made the biggest contribution to the 0.1% decrease in business services and finance and health and sports activities, amusement and recreation made the biggest contribution to the 0.2% increase in government and other services. Agriculture, forestry and fishing fell by 1.9%.

Headline GDP Down By 0.2%

UK gross domestic product fell by 0.2% in volume terms in the fourth quarter of 2011 according to a statistical bulletin from the ONS.

Of the output components of GDP output in the production industries fell by 1.4% within which manufacturing fell by 0.8%. Services remained unchanged but the construction sector fell by 0.5%. Agricultural output decreased by 1.5% in Q4 compared with a decrease of 0.6% in Q3 2011. Output of business services and finance increased by 0.1%. Government and other increased by 0.3%.

Household expenditure increased by 0.5% quarter on quarter while gross capital formation fell by 7.6%. The income components of growth and contributions to growth show that employee compensation fell by 0.3%.

An Increase In UK Foreign Currency Reserves

A recent press notice concerning official holdings of international reserves from HM Treasury and the ONS shows that in December 2010 the UK Government's net foreign currency reserves stood at $38,366m, up $976m. Gross reserves were up $2,836m to $78,801m. The Bank of England's net level of reserves were up $18m to $2m and the gross level of holdings was up $2,890m to $27,500m.

There were no intervention operations in December 2010 to support sterling by the Government of by the Bank of England to support their monetary policy objectives.

Business Services Lead Increase In Services Index

The index of services from ONS rose by 2.5% in September 2010 compared with September 2009. There were increases in all five components. Business services and finance grew by 3.4%, distribution by 1.8%, hotels and restaurants by 4.9%, transport, storage and communication by 1.1% and government and other services by 1.8%.

Information Exchange In Natural Resources

The first expert meeting on the sharing of information on natural resources, the Natural Resources Information Exchange (NRIE), took place in Benin in July this year (2010) and attracted representatives from 24 African countries. The African continent is rich in mineral resources. Information sharing can help African governments manage their natural resources efficiently and can help in poverty reduction.

Services Output 2.1% Up On Year

The Index of Services, published by the ONS, rose 2.1% over the year from May 2009 to 102.5 in May 2010 (seasonally-adjusted). All five components increased in the most recent month on a year earlier. The biggest rise was in business services and finance which rose 2.5%. It rose 1% over the month.

Distribution output increased by 4.5% notably motor trades which rose by 12.5% and retail which rose by 4.1%. Government and other services increased by 1% within which the greatest contribution was from health and social work which contributed 2.6% in output and 0.9 to the overall 1%.

Stocks Of International Currency Reserves

Movements in UK Government net foreign currency reserves in June meant they increased by $435m to a level of $34.7bn or £23.26m compared with $34.3bn or £23.77bn at the end of May 2010. Gross reserves decreased by $654m to $71.1bn. The Bank of England's net foreign currency and gold holdings decreased by $3.06m to a level of -$3.98m. Gross foreign currency holdings at the Bank of England increased by $876m to reach a level of $24.2bn.

Services Output Index Contracts By 0.1%

The services sector output index for the quarter to September 2009 decreased by 0.1% compared with the previous quarter. There were decreases in three of the five components that make up the index, business services and finance, hotels and restaurants and Government and other services. Distribution showed the most significant increase over transport and communication.

The increase in distribution was 1.1%, while transport increased by 0.5%. The Government sector reported the a decrease of 0.2%, most significantly in education and recreation, then came business services at 0.3% and hotels and restaurants a 2.7% decrease. The indicator for the output of the services sector for the month between August and September showed an increase of 0.4%.

Govrnment Can Still Hit Fiscal Targets

Provisional estimates of public finances released last week by the ONS show that in August the public sector current budget had a deficit of £12.8bn and net borrowing of £16.1bn. At the end of August the public sector net debt was £804.8bn or 57.5% of GDP, compared to 52.7% in 2008-9. The public sector net cash requirement was £10.4bn. The public sector current budget in August 2008 was 7.7bn and net borrowing was 9.9bn.

In the financial year so far in 2009-10, there was a public sector current budget deficit of £52.9bn and public sector net borrowing of £65.3bn. The public sector net cash requirement was £57.1bn.

The public sector net debt, excluding the financial sector intervention, according to the latest figures which are up to June 2009 show public sector net debt was £658.2bn or 46.9% of GDP compared with 43.2% in 2008-9.

Total central government receipts in August 2009 were 34.1bn, down from 37.5bn in 2008 and total expenditure was 45.6bn, down from 44.2bn at the same time last year. The Institute of Fiscal Studies commented that receipts were 9.2% lower in August this year and spending 3% higher. The 2009 Budget suggested 7.6% and 7.4% respectively. Public sector net investment was £3.3bn compared to £2.1bn last August. Between April and August public sector net investment amounts to £12.4bn, 37% higher than the same period last year. The 2009 Budget predicted investment of £43.8bn, 16% above last year.

The Institute of Fiscal Studies also commented that Government borrowing was 2.5 times as large as last year rather than twice as large as predicted so borrowing will have to slow to hit their target which is still possible with the new increases in revenue that are due this month and in the New Year.

GDP Decline Revised Upwards

GDP fell by 0.7%, revised from 0.8%, in the second quarter of 2009 compared with the previous quarter. GDP is 5.5% lower than Q2 2008. It is the biggest four quarter fall on record accoring to the ONS. Nominal GDP showed no growth for the quarter. The GDP deflator rose by 1.3% compared with Q2 2008.

The slowdown in output from Q1 to Q2 is due to the services, production and construction sectors. Services fell by 0.6%, production by 0.6% and construction by 2.2%.

Household expenditure fell by 0.7%. An increase in spending on motor vehicles, food and drink was offset by the continued edcline of spending abroad. Government expenditure rose by 0.8%. The volume of spending is 2.5% higher than Q2 2008. The net trade deficit fell to £7.3bn as imports fell faster than exports at 3.7% and 2.6% respectively. The export of services fell by 2.6% and the import of services by 1.9%. Gross fixed capital formation fell by 4.5%.

Employee compensation increased by 1% in the quarter, but still 1.2% below the same quarter last year. The gross operating surplus of corporations decreased by 3.6% following a 4.5% fall in Q1 2009. Taxes less subsidies increased by 3.6%. There was no change in the growth of nominal GDP at market prices.

GDP Down 1.9%

Preliminary estimates of GDP for the first quarter of 2009 from the Office for National Statistics on GDP by gross value added (GVA) suggest a decline of 1.9% on the last quarter compared with 1.6% the previous quarter. They also suggest it was 4.1% lower than 2008. The index for GDP at market prices was 108.1 and has been in decline for 5 successive quarters.

Production which represents about 18% of the UK economy was down 5.5%, a negative acceleration on 4.5%, driven by manufacturing. Agriculture, which now represents only 1% of the economy, actually grew by 0.3% in Q1 2009. It may only reflect the early estimated output from agriculture from DEFRA. Services, representing 75% of the UK economy, reported a fall of 1.2% drove the decline along with production and construction. It compares with a decline of 0.8% in the previous quarter. Of the total, distribution, hotels and restaurants (15% of the economy) also increased by 1.2% thanks mostly to wholesale and motor trades. Business services and finance, which represents about 30% of the economy, declined by 1.8% in Q1 2009. Five of the eight components of the category declined with 'other business services' (10% of GDP) making the biggest contribution. Government services increased by 0.5% on the quarter and 1% on the year.

The Quarterly National Accounts for Q1 2009 show a fall of 2.4% on the previous quarter revised down from 1.9%. It is 4.9% lower than Q1 2008. The index was 110.9 for GDP at market prices and 101.9 for chained volume measures. The household saving ration was 3% compared with 4% in previous quarter. Real household disposable income fell by 2.4% following a 2.4% rise last year. Household final consumption fell by 1.3% compared to a 1.1% fall in the previous quarter. The volume of spending is 3.1% lower than at the same time in 2008. Both government and households were net borrowers. Financial corporations, private non-financial corporations and public corporations were among the net lenders.