The British economy grew slightly more quickly than originally thought in the second quarter but was still well below its long-run average, official data showed.
The data is unlikely to make any difference to the Bank of England's interest rate policy, since it covers a period before the attacks on the United States, and economists already think third-quarter economic activity was slower than the second.
Britain’s National Statistics (NS) office revised up its original estimate of gross domestic product growth by one percentage point to 0.4 per cent from the first quarter to give an annual growth rate of 2.3 per cent, up from 2.1 per cent reported a month ago.
NS said higher-than-estimated output from the construction and services sector were the reasons for the better growth picture.
It also released its annual "Blue Book" containing revisions to past data, including a new growth figure for the full year 2000 of 2.9 per cent - lower than the 3.1 per cent previously given.
NS also reported today Britain’s current account deficit widened to £3.9 billion sterling in the second quarter from a revised £1.6 billion shortfall in the previous quarter.
This reflected bigger trade and current transfers deficit and lower investment income surplus.