Business investment in crucial sectors of the UK economy increased in the third quarter despite an overall decline.

Business investment in crucial sectors of the UK economy increased in the third quarter of 2008 despite an overall decline.

Government data for the third quarter of this year shows overall business investment at £35.3 billion, down 0.2 per cent from the previous quarter and 0.5 per cent lower year on year.

However, service sector investment grew 0.3 per cent compared with the third quarter of 2007, to £26.3 billion, while private sector manufacturing investment swelled 0.8 per cent to £3.6 billion.

The big loser was construction, in which investment fell 20.5 per cent year on year, from £921 million to £732 million, while distribution industry spending was down 1.5 per cent to £4.8 billion.

David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, says, ‘The good news is that the overall fall in business investment was smaller than analysts expected.

‘These figures highlight the need [for the government] to avoid undermining confidence unnecessarily.’