§ Lord Taylor of Warwickasked Her Majesty's Government:
Why British exports to the European Union have fallen to their lowest level in four years, despite the recent drop in the value of sterling against the euro. [HL4803]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleAlthough the UK economy continues to perform well, we are a highly open economy and therefore not immune to the recent global slowdown. UK exports have been affected by the depressed level of demand in many of our main EU markets. Both the French and German economies contracted in the second quarter of 2003, by 0.3 per cent 0.1 per cent respectively, with Germany now having experienced two consecutive quarters of negative growth. However, despite the global slowdown, the UK experienced GDP growth of 0.6 per cent in quarter two.