ONS confirms 1% growth for third quarter...but OECD forecast is cut

The UK economy grew by 1% in the third quarter of 2012, the Office for National Statistics confirmed, just as the OECD cut its predictions for developed economies.

Last month the ONS first estimated the UK had crawled out of its nine-month recession after a 1% increase in GDP.

The figure was helped by strong consumer spending which grew by 0.6%. The services sector grew by 1.3% which was unchanged from the ONS' previous estimate. However growth in industrial production was revised down to 0.9% from 1.1%.

In its first estimate, the ONS said output of the production industries was estimated to have increased by 1.1% from the second to third quarter following a decrease of 0.7% between the first and second.

GDP in volume terms was estimated last month to have been flat in the third quarter of 2012, when compared with the third quarter of 2011.

However the ONS announcement was undermined by growth forecasts from the OECD, which it lowered for advanced economies.

The OECD said there continued to be a risk of a serious global recession, outlining a growth forecast of 1.4% in a clutch of 34 developed economies in 2013.