British economic growth slowed considerably in the third quarter of this year due to poor performance in the industrial sector.
Preliminary figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that gross domestic product grew by 0.4 percent in the three months to September, making it the weakest quarterly growth since the beginning of last year.
GDP was also well down from the 0.9 percent recorded in the second quarter. The year-on-year rate was three percent, compared with 3.6 percent in the second quarter.
The lackluster performance reflected a 1.1 percent drop in the volume of output in production industries, where companies contended with soaring oil prices, higher interest rates and weak demand from overseas customers. The sector had recorded a 1.2 percent rise in the April-to-June period.
The service industry made up some of the slack, rising by 0.8 percent, compared with 0.9 percent in the second quarter.
"The contribution to growth [in services] comes mainly from retail and wholesale," the Office for National Statistics said.
However, the overall sluggish result led some analysts to scale back growth forecasts for the year and predict that the Bank of England would keep interest rates steady at 4.75 percent.
David Page of Investec Securities said he is now expecting growth of around 3.3 percent for this year, down from his previous forecast of 3.5 percent.
The industrial slump of 1.1 percent is the largest decline since the end of 2001, when output fell 2 percent following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The statistics office said that 12 of its 14 production sub-sectors experienced declines, with the most significant being in chemicals and paper, printing and publishing.
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