UK economy resilient to Brexit impasse in late summer

FILE: The City of London is one of the world’s largest financial centres (Photo by kloniwotski – Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)

LONDON — A raft of economic figures show the British economy largely performing stronger than anticipated in late summer, a development that may ease concerns over the economic impact of the country’s struggles to progress in Brexit talks with the European Union.

Official figures from the Office for National Statistics showed industrial production was 0.2 per cent higher in August from the previous month, while construction rose 0.6 per cent during the same period. One disappointment was the news that the country’s trade deficit, including goods and services, widened in the three months to August 2017 by 2.9 billion pounds to 10.8 billion pounds ($14.2 billion).

Elsewhere, the British Retail Consortium found that same-store retail sales were 1.

9 per cent in September from the year before.