Olympics Helped Fuel UK Economy in Q3

Britain’s households increased their spending at the fastest in more than two years during the three-month period that included the Olympic Games, helping the economy to expand by 1%.

Figures released on Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics left the initial growth estimate for the third quarter of 2012 unrevised – confounding City forecasts that the increase would be cut to 0.9%, and confirming that the recession has ended.

Officials said the boost provided by the London Olympic Games helped household spending to rise by 0.6% in the July to September period, its fastest growth since the second quarter of 2010. A 3.7% increase in investment spending and a better trade performance also boosted gross domestic product.

Tuesday’s data confirms that national output bounced back during the summer following the fall in the second quarter caused by the extra bank holiday to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

The ONS said the economy was 0.1% smaller at the end of the third quarter than it had been a year earlier, and shrank by 3.1% from its pre-recession peak in early 2008.

Sir Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, warned earlier this month that growth was likely to falter again in the final three months of 2012 as the one-off factors that drove activity in the third quarter faded away.

via BBC

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