Britain’s economy kept up healthy momentum during the third quarter, but this may prove a high watermark ahead of Brexit, official figures showed this morning.
Gross domestic product in the three months to September was 0.6 percent higher than in the previous quarter, matching the consensus forecast in a poll of economists, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed.
Compared with a year earlier, the economy stood 1.5 percent larger.
The figures showed trade contributed strongly to growth over the third quarter.
Still, this morning’s data is likely to reassure the Bank of England, which last week forecast quarterly growth of 0.6 percent over the third quarter but a slowdown to 0.3 percent in the final quarter of the year.
Britain’s economy slowed after the June 2016 Brexit vote, its growth rate slipping from top spot among the Group of Seven group of rich nations to jostling with long-term laggards Japan and Italy for bottom place in the rankings.
They now say a 75% chance of a Brexit deal being agreed in November.