Official data show that the UK’s economic growth rate in the third quarter was lower than previously expected and lags behind other developed countries.

Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics of the United Kingdom on Wednesday showed that in the three months to September compared with the previous three months, British output increased by 1.1%, which was lower than the initial estimate of 1.3%.

As a result of the upward revision to the growth in 2020, the gap with the output of the last quarter of 2019 before the pandemic was revised to 1.5%, which is less than the previous estimate of 2.1%.

However, compared with other advanced economies, this is still a bigger blow. During the same period, the Eurozone economy almost recovered to its pre-pandemic level, and output in the United States and China has exceeded this level.

Darren Morgan, head of economic statistics at the National Bureau of Statistics of the United Kingdom, said: “Our revised data shows that the recovery of the UK’s GDP in the third quarter slowed slightly, and the health and hairdressers’ performance throughout the quarter was much weaker. The month’s contraction was larger than we had previously estimated.”

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics of the United Kingdom also show that household consumption is the main driver of growth, with an upwardly revised growth of 2.7%.

As a result, the household savings rate — the average percentage of savings in disposable income — fell to 8.6% from 10.7% in the previous three months.

Although this is well below the peak of 24% last spring, it was also well above the 2019 average of 4.9% during the peak of Covid restrictions. This shows that even if most of the pandemic-related restrictions are removed, households are saving more than usual.

Economists say that once the fear of infection subsides, the excess savings held by households will help promote the recovery of the British economy.

With the Omicron coronavirus variant now hitting the UK, as household savings further increase, economic growth is expected to lose momentum.