The U.K. economy expanded more than previously estimated in the third quarter, suggesting that the region weathered uncertainty from the 'Brexit' referendum before entering the fourth quarter on a strong footing.
Gross domestic product grew 0.6 percent from the second quarter, which was revised up from 0.5 percent, the third estimate from the Office for National Statistics showed Friday.
Meanwhile, growth the rate for the second quarter was revised down to 0.6 percent from 0.7 percent and that for the first quarter to 0.3 percent from 0.4 percent.
Nonetheless, the economy has now expanded for 15 consecutive quarters since the first quarter of 2013.
The statistical office revised down its annual growth to 2.2 percent from 2.3 percent in the third quarter.
Despite seeming ongoing resilience at the end of this year, 2017 is likely to be an increasingly difficult year for the UK economy, IHS Global Insight Economist Howard Archer said.
Nonetheless, with growth likely to be limited over 2017 and 2018, the economist expects the Bank of England to look through a likely substantial overshoot in inflation and keep interest rates unchanged at 0.25 percent.
On the production side, construction output declined 0.8 percent sequentially in the third quarter instead of 1.1 percent. Similarly, production output slid 0.4 percent versus the prior estimate of 0.5 percent drop.
In the third quarter, the index of services gained 1 percent from the second quarter. This was revised up by 0.2 percentage points. In October, services output rose 3.2 percent from the prior year and 0.3 percent from September.
Services growth in October was consumer led, with retail sales contributing 0.14 percentage points to the overall increase.
The expenditure side breakdown of GDP showed that household spending increased for seven consecutive quarters. Spending grew 0.7 percent from the prior quarter. On the other hand, government expenditure remained flat.
Gross fixed capital formation increased 0.9 percent from the prior quarter to GBP 78.4 billion, the ONS said. At the same time, business investment advanced 0.4 percent to GBP 44 billion.
Including the alignment adjustment, the level of inventories increased by GBP 1.6 billion in the third quarter.
The ONS said it identified errors in the trade data calculation, which caused revisions to exports and imports. Exports fell 2.6 percent in the third quarter, while imports rose 1.4 percent. Consequently, the net trade deducted 1.2 percentage points from GDP.
Another report showed that the current account deficit widened to GBP 25.5 billion in the third quarter from a revised deficit of GBP 22.1 billion in the previous period. The increase in shortfall reflects deficits on total trade and secondary income.
by RTT Staff Writer
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