Key Statistics: 1st May 2012

Glenigan's weekly roundup of keys statistics for the UK construction industry and the wider economy:

Construction

• The Glenigan Index of construction project starts fell 4% in April on a year ago.
• According to figures from the ONS’s latest GDP estimate, construction activity declined by 3% over the first three months of 2012, compared to the previous quarter.

UK Economy

• GDP contracted by 0.2% over the first quarter of the year. This is the second quarter-on-quarter decline, meaning the UK is technically back in recession.
• Other ONS figures showed that the seasonally adjusted Index of Services increased by 0.8 per cent in February 2012 compared with February 2011.
• The Government current budget deficit excluding the temporary effects of financial interventions was £11.1 billion in March. This means that net debt excluding the temporary effects of financial interventions was £1022.5 billion, equivalent to 66% of GDP.
• Strengthening export order books in the first few months of the year, coupled with confidence over future overseas demand, is underpinning a return to optimism among Scottish industry, according to the CBI’s latest Scottish business survey.
• In addition, the UK manufacturing sector is showing signs of bouncing back from the fragile conditions seen at the end of 2011 and start of 2012, and sentiment has improved for the first time in a year, the CBI said in their UK Industrial Trends Survey.