UK economy stays on course with 1% GDP growth in Q3

UK GDP growth for the third quarter of 2012 has been confirmed at 1% by the Office for National Statistics in its second official reading.

The 1% rise confirms the economy saw the highest quarterly growth rate since the 1.2% jump in Q3 2007. A slight downwards revision had been expected by some analysts, after September data for the manufacturing and construction sectors - not available at the time of last month's initial estimate - was worse than expected. However, despite a downward revision in the output of the UK's production industries, from 1.1% to 0.9%, GDP held firm. Much of this quarter's rise has been attributed to a reversal of the 'Jubilee effect' in Q2. The end of that one-off factor - lost output due ...