UK economy avoids recession with 0.3% Q3 growth

Official figures show that the British economy avoided falling into recession in the third quarter of the year.

The Office for National Statistics said Monday that the economy grew by a quarterly rate of 0.3%. That was in line with market expectations.

Following the 0.2% contraction in the second quarter, there had been fears that the British economy would fall into recession — commonly defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

Though a recession was avoided, the British economy remains relatively weak, largely because of uncertainty related to Brexit. On an annual basis, the British economy was only 1% bigger in the third quarter, its weakest year-on-year growth since the start of 2010.