The British economy will pay higher costs this year and next for the uncertainty created by the vote to leave the European Union, the EU economics commissioner said on Thursday, acknowledging that Britain was not immediately hit by the vote last year.

"The uncertainty will have a more tangible effect on the British economy in 2017 and 2018," Pierre Moscovici told a conference in Brussels, after having recognised that Britain did better than expected in the immediate aftermath of the Brexit vote last year.

Britain's gross domestic product rose at a quarterly rate of 0.6 percent between October and December, Britain's Office for National Statistics said on Thursday, maintaining the above-average pace seen in the first three months after June's Brexit referendum. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie