Britain fastest growing G7 economy: OECD

Britain has the fastest growing economy among the G7 group of developed nations, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reported Thursday.

According to the OECD figures, Britain had the highest annual growth rate among the G7 nations, with three percent annual growth between the third quarters of 2013 and 2014, Xinhua reported.

This outstripped the second-placed US, which grew by 2.3 percent over the same period.

However, the data also pointed towards a marginal slowing down in the rate of growth of the British economy, with growth in the third quarter down 0.2 percentage points at 0.7 percent, compared with 0. 9 percent in the second quarter.

The British central bank -- the Bank of England (BOE) reduced its growth forecast for 2015 from 3 percent to 2.9 percent, although it still predicted a 3.5 percent growth for 2014.

The BOE said in its quarterly inflation report last week that the slight downward revision was largely due to "weaker euro-area activity, which would weigh on British exports and could be associated with a further rise in financial market volatility.

On the other hand, the European Union (EU), which is Britain's largest trading partner, taking 45 percent of its exports, had grown 1.3 percent in the year up to the end of the third quarter 2014, OECD figures showed.