The British economy expanded slightly faster than expected in the third quarter of the year, according to new figures published this morning. UK gross domestic product rose by 0.9pc in the three months to September, National Statistics (ONS) said, ahead of the 0.8pc provisional figure and faster than the 0.6pc growth seen in the second quarter On a year-on-year basis, the UK economy expanded by 2.1pc, up from the earlier estimate of 1.8pc However, the statistics office noted that the additional bank holiday in June created some volatility in the numbers and - excluding this holiday - the UK economy probably would have slowed in the third quarter.
"Growth in the latest two quarters has been affected by the Jubilee holidays i June, which saw a significant decline in activity. Without this effect, ONS estimate GDP quarterly growth would have been between 0.8pc and 1.3pc in the second quarter and between 0.2pc and 0.5pc in the latest quarter," the office said In a separate report, ONS said that the UK current account deficit narrowed to STG2.2bn in the third quarter from STG3.6bn in the second quarter //www.fxcentre.com