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ONS confirms “reasonably solid” Q3 growth of 0.5%

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  • 24/11/2011
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ONS confirms “reasonably solid” Q3 growth of 0.5%
The UK economy grew by 0.5% in the third quarter of 2011, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has confirmed in its second official estimate, driven by the services sector.

Earlier this month the ONS’ first estimate of economic growth also came in at 0.5% for Q3, ahead of expectations. Many commentators had predicted it would fall when revisions were made.

In today’s report, it said that the headline growth of 0.5% was “reasonably solid” given the previous three quarters’ performance and the turmoil being caused by the eurozone crisis.

Growth over the last year has been 0.5%, averaging 0.3% over the last two quarters.

The services industry, the UK’s most dominant sector, supplied the lion’s share of the growth, the ONS said.

UK gross domestic product increased by 0.5% in volume terms in the third quarter of 2011.

The ONS said output of the production industries rose by 0.4%, within which manufacturing rose 0.2%.

Output of the service industries also increased by 0.6%, but output of the construction industry fell by 0.2% amid falling demand.

One bright spot was the business services and finance sector, which grew 1.0% in Q3 up from an increase of 0.3% in Q2.

However, the ONS said that underlying growth is “weak”, with consumers continuing to struggle financially, with uncertainty over employment affecting confidence.

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