With Johnson’s government committed to leaving the European Union on 31 October, regardless of whether he can secure a transition deal to avoid trade disruption, the outlook for the remainder of 2019 is uncertain.

Axar.az reports citing Eureporter that the world economy has also slowed due to the trade conflict between the United States and China.

Year-on-year economic growth slid to 1.2% from 1.8% in the first quarter, Britain’s Office for National Statistics said, its weakest since the start of 2018.

“There is … little doubt that the economy is stalling, regardless of the volatility in the data,” PwC senior economist Mike Jakeman said.

Britain’s economy has slowed since June 2016’s vote to leave the EU, with annual growth rates dropping from more than 2% before the referendum to expand by 1.4% last year.

Friday’s (9 August) data showed business investment contracted 0.5% in the second quarter of the year versus economists’ expectations of a 0.3% fall.

Household spending, which has been much more resilient than business investment, due to falling unemployment and rising wages, rose 0.5% on the quarter.

Trade figures and its contribution to GDP were distorted erratic flows of non-monetary gold and also showed the effect of businesses building up fewer stocks than in the first quarter of the year when they were readying for Brexit.