TOTAL net worth of the UK including financial assets at end 2006 was £6,525 billion. This is an increase of £326 billion on the previous year.

According to official statistics released last week, detailed figures of the country’s wealth show that the most valuable asset continues to be housing with a total value of £3,915 billion. This is up 10 per cent on the previous year and is equivalent to 60 per cent of the nation’s wealth. The value of housing stock belonging to the household and non-profit organisations sector was worth £3,696 billion.

Total UK depreciation (capital consumption) of all assets in 2006 is estimated at £148 billion, with depreciation of plant and machinery accounting for just over 29 per cent of this figure. The value of plant and machinery in use (net capital stock) has increased by six per cent over the past five years, indicating that investment is greater than depreciation.

The total cost of replacing all capital assets in their current condition is estimated to be £2,835 billion, at current prices.

At 2003 prices, the total net capital stock of the UK has increased from £551 billion in 1948 to £2,639 billion in 2006.

Meanwhile, UK oil reserves have been valued at £83.8 billion at the end of 2005. This is an increase of 35 per cent since 2004, when the value of reserves stood at £63.8 billion. Since 1994 the nominal value of oil reserves has risen markedly from £19.7 billion.

The large increase in the value of the UK’s oil reserves seen since 1994 is mainly due to significant increases in the price of North Sea oil.

Gas reserves were estimated to be worth £63.6 billion in 2005, up from £50.0 billion in 2004, representing a year on year increase of 27 per cent. The nominal value of gas reserves has also risen significantly since 1994 when their estimated value stood at £15.4 billion.

However, this oil and gas wealth is far from adequate for sustaining the economic growth of UK and therefore, the country is looking for alternatives that would relatively lessen its dependence on imported fuel.

At the moment though economic growth in the UK continues to remain steady with the GDP rising by 0.8 per cent in the second quarter of 2007, compared with a rise of 0.7 per cent in the previous quarter. The main reason for this increase is stronger production and construction output offsetting weaker growth in total services. GDP growth is still driven by services.

Production output rose by 0.6 per cent in the latest quarter, following a 0.1 per cent fall in the previous quarter. This rise is largely caused by stronger manufacturing, which rose by 0.6 per cent compared with a fall of 0.4 per cent in the first quarter. Mining and quarrying rose 1.1 per cent while energy supply fell by 0.4 per cent.

Total services grew by 0.8 per cent in the second quarter of 2007, a slight decrease on the previous quarter’s growth. This is mostly caused by weaker distribution, hotels and restaurants and government and other services. Business services and finance showed increased growth in the second quarter.

Distribution, hotels and restaurants increased by 0.4 per cent, compared with 1.0 per cent in the previous quarter. The slowdown is mainly because of weaker wholesale and hotels and restaurants, which were partially offset by stronger retailing.

Transport, storage and communication rose by 1.4 per cent, less than the 1.6 per cent rise in the first quarter. The slight decrease is mostly due to land transport and post and telecommunications.

Business services and finance grew by 1.3 per cent in the second quarter, up from 1.0 per cent. The largest contribution comes from other business services, which includes legal services, labour recruitment and architects and engineers. The acceleration in growth is mainly due to stronger computing.

Government and other services rose by 0.1 per cent in the second quarter compared with a previous rise of 0.5 per cent. Weaker recreational services are the prime cause of this decrease.

Construction rose by 1.1 per cent, compared with 0.7 per cent in the first quarter.

CPI annual inflation – the government’s target measure – was 2.4 per cent in June, down from 2.5 per cent in May.

The main downward pressure on the CPI annual rate came from average gas and electricity bills which continued to fall this year but rose 12 months ago. There were also large downward effects from cigarettes, where last year’s price increases were not repeated this year, and from audio-visual equipment and related products, with prices falling by more than a year ago, particularly for digital cameras, hi-fi equipment, televisions and pre-recorded DVDs.

Small downward effects also came from a range of other products including personal care appliances and products; insurance premiums; and books, newspapers and stationery.

The largest upward effect on the CPI annual rate came from road fuels, where the average price recorded for petrol across June rose by around 1.2p per litre, compared with a fall of 0.9p per litre last year. There was also a large upward effect from furniture and furnishings, which rose by a record monthly rate for June in advance of the usual summer sales period.

Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation rose to 4.4 per cent in June, up from 4.3 per cent in May. The main upward pressure came from mortgage interest payments – which are excluded from the CPI – with lenders passing on the remainder of this May’s quarter point increase in the Bank Rate. Other factors impacting on the RPI were similar to those that affected the CPI.

RPIX inflation — the all items RPI excluding mortgage interest payments — was 3.3 per cent in June, unchanged from May.

As an internationally comparable measure of inflation, the CPI shows that the UK inflation rate is above average for the European Union as a whole. The provisional inflation rate for the EU 27 in June was 2.1 per cent, compared with the UK rate of 2.4 per cent for the corresponding period.