Moneymona

At first glance the International Monetary Fund's latest set of forecasts seem to reflect extraordinarily well on Britain. The IMF has revised up its growth estimates for the economy since January by a bigger margin than for any other advanced country. If it is correct, Britain will grow at a faster pace this year (2.9 per cent) than any other member of the G7 club.But the IMF sounded a warning too. "The recovery [in the UK] has been unbalanced, with business investment and exports still disappointing, it said in its World Economic Outlook. It also noted a potential threat to stability posed by surging house prices. So how unbalanced is our recovery? And just how worried should we be?

The IMF is by no means alone among analysts in harbouring concerns. In 2013 the economy grew 1.7 per cent, but as the first chart shows this was heavily dependent on output from our services firms. Construction made a contribution, but manufacturing was actually a small drag on growth over the 12 months. After widespread hopes in the wake of the Great Recession of a manufacturing renaissance what George Osborne in 2011 called a "march of the makers" – the protracted weakness of the sector is depressing.

The UK economy is still growing strongly, but not at the pace seen in recent months, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) says. The group said its growth indicator for March showed the economy growing at its slowest rate in eight months. But the CBI said growth remains above average, as the recovery in the UK economy continues to do well.