UK GDP growth fell to 0.7 per

The pace of Britain's economic recovery slowed somewhat in the third quarter of this year, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said on Tuesday. The think tank estimated gross domestic product rose 0.7 per cent in the three months to the end of September, less than the 0.9 per cent rate of growth in the second quarter but still slightly above Britain's long-run average. Last month NIESR estimated the economy expanded by 0.8 per cent in the previous three-month period from June through August. Its monthly report said Britain's economy was about 3.5 per cent larger at the end of the third quarter than its previous peak in 2008, before the country's worst post-war recession took hold. Official data last week, which used new ways of calculating the size of Britain's economy, showed it was 2.7 per cent bigger than its pre-crisis peak by the end of the second quarter. NIESR said there was a ‘reasonable amount’ of spare capacity left in the economy, and that interest rates would probably rise in February next year, according to Reuters.