John Daly of the U.S. plays a shot on the 15th hole during the second round of the British Open golf championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes, northern England July 20, 2012.REUTERS/Eddie KeoghJohn Daly of the U.S. plays a shot on the 15th hole during the second round of the British Open golf championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes, northern England July 20, 2012.
Britain's final third quarter GDP figures came out on Wednesday morning and it's bad news.
Both figures are downward revisions on the original estimates, which were 0.5% growth on the second quarter and a 2.3% rise on the third quarter last year.
It's another piece of disappointing data for Chancellor George Osborne this week.
Public sector borrowing came in well above forecast at £14.2 billion ($21 billion) for November. That means Osborne is almost certain to miss the country's borrowing forecast for the year.
There is a silver lining though.
The UK's current account deficit for the UK — the amount of money flowing into the country versus how much is going out — was much stronger than forecasted. The deficit came in at £17.4 billion ($25.8 billion) for the third quarter, against an expected shortfall of £21.5 billion ($31.9 billion).
Despite the downward GDP revision and the likely missed borrowing target, Britain is in an economic sweet spot right now, with rock bottom levels of unemployment and growth looking on track.