Yorkshire’s economy warming up

The Big Four firm said the region’s £80bn economy will pick up from around 1.3 per cent this year to 2.3 per cent in 2014.

Non-financial services sectors will remain the main engine of growth in both output and employment, as has been the case for the last four years, said PwC.

The report shows these services sectors are playing an increasingly important role in driving UK export growth.

House prices in the region have also risen this year by 1.1 per cent, lower than the national average of 2.9 per cent, but in line with the rest of the UK regions outside of London.

Nationally, the report projects UK GDP growth to pick up gradually to around 1.4 per cent in 2013, rising to around 2.4 per cent in 2014.

Arif Ahmad, senior partner in Leeds, said: “After a couple of sluggish years in 2011 and 2012, the Yorkshire economy is showing clear signs of recovery this year and is now gathering real momentum, with predicted growth in line with the UK average.

“The services sector has been leading the growth but latest data sources indicate that manufacturing and construction are also now starting to recover.

“Given persistent above target inflation, we do not expect any significant further easing of monetary policy and attention could eventually turn to higher interest rates, although possibly not until late 2015, which is when we project the unemployment rate to fall to below 7 per cent in our main scenario.”