British economy stalls in third quarter

LONDON - Britain's economy stagnated in the third quarter, official data showed, weighed down by elevated inflation and interest-rate hikes.

Gross domestic product showed no growth in the July-September period, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement.

That beat market expectations for a contraction of 0.2 percent, but followed 0.2-percent expansion in the second quarter.

The data comes one week after the Bank of England froze interest rates at a 15-year high of 5.25 percent to tackle high inflation, and forecast the economy would flatline next year.

Reacting to Friday's data, UK finance minister Jeremy Hunt warned that "high inflation was the single greatest barrier to economic growth".

Hunt added that his budget statement on November 22, would "focus on how we get the economy growing healthily again".

The ONS added Friday that activity grew 0.2 percent in September after downwardly-revised expansion of 0.1 percent in August and zero growth in July.

"The economy is estimated to have shown no growth in the third quarter," said ONS economic statistics director Darren Morgan.

"Services dropped a little with falls in health, management consultancy and commercial property rentals. These were partially offset by growth in engineering, car sales and machinery leasing."