The U.K. economy slowed to a crawl in the third quarter, despite tentative signs of a pick-up in confidence amid a change of government and a turn in the interest rate cycle.
Gross domestic product grew by only 0.1 percent between July and September, the Office for National Statistics said on Friday. That was after two surprisingly strong quarters in the first half of the year, in which it had grown 0.7 and 0.5 percent, respectively.
GDP was up 1.0 percent from a year earlier, but the ONS indicated this was entirely due to the net increase in population. In per capita terms, a better reflection of living standards, GDP fell 0.1 percent on the quarter and was flat on the year.
