UK Economy Flatlines In Q3

(RTTNews) - The UK economy stalled in the third quarter as the services sector posted nil growth and the moderate expansion in construction was offset by the fall in industrial production, the Office for National Statistics reported Monday.

Real gross domestic product remained flat in the third quarter, which was revised down from the 0.1 percent rise estimated initially. This follows a 0.4 percent expansion seen in the second quarter. On the production side, the dominant service sector logged nil growth in the third quarter. The first estimate showed a marginal increase of 0.1 percent.

Meanwhile, construction output showed an expansion of 0.7 percent, which was revised down from 0.8 percent. This followed three consecutive quarterly falls. The growth in construction was offset by a 0.4 percent fall in industrial production. The decline in production was revised down from the first estimate of 0.2 percent fall.

On a yearly basis, real GDP increased 0.9 percent compared to the previous estimate of 1.0 percent.

The expenditure-side breakdown of GDP showed that there was an increase of 0.5 percent in household expenditure. Government spending edged up 0.1 percent, down from the first estimate of 0.6 percent.

At the same time, growth in gross fixed capital formation was revised up to 1.3 percent from 1.1 percent. Within gross capital formation, business investment climbed 1.9 percent.

Excluding the alignment and balancing adjustments, revised estimates show that real inventories increased by GBP 2.5 billion in the third quarter, driven by higher stocks in manufacturing.