Will the disappointing news keep on coming?

Last year ended with some fairly downbeat news on public borrowing and economic growth. But has the news flow since then been any more encouraging? So far the answer is not particularly. The start of 2016 brought with it some downbeat survey evidence about the pace of growth at the end of last year. It now seems likely that GDP growth only rose from 0.4% q/q in Q3 2015 to around ½% in Q4 – a fairly respectable outturn, but coupled with further oil-induced near-term weakness in inflation, not one that will rush the MPC into raising interest rates soon.