LONDON, Oct 19: Britain’s economy expanded by an impressive 0.8 per cent in the third quarter of 2007, shrugging off the impact of the global credit crunch, according to official data published on Friday.

That marked the fourth successive quarter that the country’s economy has grown by 0.8 per cent, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in an initial estimate.

GDP grew by 3.3 per cent during the three months to the end of September, from the same quarter of the previous year, the ONS added. That was the biggest annual rate since the second quarter of 2004.

The data beat market expectations for quarterly growth of 0.7 per cent and an annual rate of 3.1 per cent.

“GDP growth was impressively resilient at 0.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter, given the dampening impact of the developing credit crunch,” said Global Insight economist Howard Archer.

“Furthermore, annual growth picked up to a three-year high of 3.3 per cent.” However, British finance chief Alistair Darling predicted earlier this month that the economy would grow at a slower than expected rate in 2008 because of the fallout from the global credit squeeze.

Darling, delivering his maiden pre-budget report, had said economic growth would likely come to 2-2.5 per cent in 2008 -- a downgrade from the prior forecast of 2.5-3 per cent.

In Friday’s third-quarter data, there was no evidence that recent markets turmoil had yet impacted on the financial sector, which saw output rise by a quarterly 1.7 per cent for the second consecutive quarter.

The economy also enjoyed the seventh successive quarter above the so-called trend rate. That refers to the growth level, which does not spark higher inflation, and is deemed by economists to lie between 0.6-0.7 per cent.

The British economy also outpaced the Bank of England’s (BoE) own quarterly forecast for growth of about 0.7 per cent.

As a result, analysts said the data may diminish market expectations that the BoE could cut interest rates next month.—AFP