U.K. Economy Beats Estimates, Grows by 0.8%

The U.K. economy grew 0.8% in the third quarter, twice as fast as expected.

The construction sector helped drive the economy in the third quarter, enjoying its second straight quarter of strong growth, Reuters reported.

Economists had forecast that the economy would slow much more sharply following growth of 1.2% in the second quarter.

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"It's much stronger than expected," Alan Clarke, economist at BNP Paribas, told Reuters. "It certainly makes it challenging for the Monetary Policy Committee to deliver (more) quantitative easing as early as the November meeting."

Still, with the government raising taxes and slashing hundreds and thousands of public sector jobs, the economic momentum may be difficult to sustain.

"It does not fundamentally change our view that growth will be markedly slower going forward as economic activity is pressurized by major fiscal tightening," said Howard Archer, an economist at IHS Global Insight.