The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) on Thursday warned that the British economy may stall after its quarterly survey showed economic growth pace was easing.

The BCC's third quarter economic survey, made up of responses from over 7,000 British businesses, showed that the economy was growing but at slower pace than earlier in the year.

Signs of the slowdown were particularly noticeable in manufacturing, where all key domestic and export balances recorded declined in the third quarter.

A total of 40 percent of manufacturing companies surveyed said they were operating at full capacity in Q3, down 6 percentage points from Q2.

The net balance of companies in manufacturing sector that said their domestic sales had increased over the past three months dropped 19 percentage points to 23 percent compared to Q2.

"UK growth cannot rely permanently on consumer spending, and on unsustainable current account and budget deficits. Unless exports and investment play a bigger role in growth, the recovery will stall," said BCC chief economist David Kern.

"With inflation well below target and with earnings still rising annually by less than 1 percent, it is clearly unjustified to endanger the recovery with a premature increase in official interest rates," Kern added.

The quarterly economic survey is a leading private sector indicator of the British economy since 1989.
(Xinhua)