UK GDP revised downwards as US growth hits decade high

UK GDP is confirmed to have risen 0.7% in Q3 - but the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revised down a string of recent annualised growth figures.

The ONS confirmed today that Q3 growth matched the estimate announced at the end of November. This marks the seventh consecutive quarter-on-quarter increase in GDP, although the figure falls slightly short of the 0.8% achieved in Q2. However, the year-on-year growth rate for the 12 months to 30 September has been revised down from 3.0% to 2.6%, with annualised figures for the previous four quarters also revised down. Chancellor George Osborne announced estimated GDP growth of 3% for 2014 in his Autumn Statement earlier this month. By contrast, US data released later in the da...