UK economy expands 0.7 pc in Sept quarter

LONDON: The British economy expanded 0.7 per cent in the September quarter, a tad less than expected, due to sluggish activities in services and construction sectors.

The UK, one of the largest European economies, was earlier projected to see a GDP growth of 0.8 per cent in the 2010 third quarter.

"GDP growth has been revised down to 0.7 per cent in the latest quarter from 0.8 per cent previously published. GDP in the third quarter of 2010 is now 2.7 per cent higher than the third quarter of 2009," UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) said today.

The slight downward revision was mainly on account of lower than anticipated growth in services and construction segments.

"Construction output was revised down to 3.9 per cent from 4.0 per cent... Output in the service industries was revised down to 0.5 per cent in the latest (September) quarter," ONS said in a statement.

Going by the official data, output of production industries too was cut down to 0.5 per cent.

British economy has seen some revival after being hit by the global financial meltdown in 2008-09. However, with the government resorting to massive spending cuts, there are concerns that growth would continue to remain slow in 2011 also.

Meanwhile, many European nations, including Greece and Ireland, are grappling with severe debt turmoil.