Britain's economic growth has come to its slowest annual rate for 12 years in the second quarter, according to official figures published on Wednesday.

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday unexpectedly revised down its annual growth rate for the second quarter of 2005 from 1.8 percent to 1.5 percent, because of downgrades to back data for several sectors.

It was the weakest rate of annual expansion since the first quarter of 1993.

The figures from ONS coincided with more bad news from the high street and weakest retail for 22 years as suggested by a survey conducted by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

John Longworth, executive director of Asda, the supermarket chain, and chairman of the CBI's retail trades survey, was quoted by the Financial Times on Thursday as saying: "Consumers were reluctant to spend because of higher fuel bills, the slowing housing market and a reluctance to take on more debt."

He said the survey by the CBI, the employers' organization, showed it was the fourth month in a row that volumes had fallen short of last year's levels despite the summer sales.

"Margins are being squeezed further as prices are cut and fuel prices rise," he said.

But the ONS left unchanged its quarter on quarter growth estimate of 0.5 percent for the second quarter of the year after downward revisions to previous quarters. First quarter growth was lowered to 0.3 percent from the previous 0.4 percent.

The unexpectedly slow growth rate raised expectations in financial markets of a further cut in interest rates. Most investors believe that the Bank of England is likely to cut rates once more by the spring.

Source: Xinhua