New GDP Figures Show Brown Will Struggle to Match Forecasts - Cable

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 28th Sep 2005

Responding to the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics which show a slowdown in the growth of GDP, Vincent Cable MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor said: "These downward revisions make it increasingly difficult to believe that GDP this year will even meet Gordon Brown revised forecasts of 2%-2.5%.

"The underlying problem is that the Chancellor has unwisely and unnecessarily staked his reputation on the forecasting ability of the Treasury, which is largely a matter of pure chance.

"The current weakness is not due primarily to high oil prices, as the Chancellor would have us believe, but to domestic imbalances that the Chancellor has done little to address. Indeed, the IMF is not forecasting any slowdown in the robust level of growth for the world economy as a whole.

"The fall in private consumption over the year, which was evident when the Chancellor made his growth forecasts in the Budget, is largely due to uncertainty in the housing market and concerns over personal debt."