Britain's trade deficit in goods at widest level in almost a year Meanwhile, imports from EU countries rose by 3.3pc to a record high of £55.2bn in the third quarter, amid a jump in imports of capital and intermediate goods such as heavy machinery and industrial equipment. While this led to an increase in the deficit, it also suggested that companies were starting to plough more money into business investment. However, economists were less upbeat. Against the backdrop of this year's sharp increase in GDP growth, these figures are a stark reminder of how unbalanced the recovery still is. The preliminary GDP release for Q3 had already contained signs that growth was largely domestically driven and today's weak exports data provides hard evidence of that," said Nida Ali, economic adviser to the Ernst & Young ITEM Club. The fact that the overall economy expanded by 0.8% demonstrates the extent of the contribution from the consumer and housing sectors. It is unlikely that these sectors can continue providing the same level of support to the recovery, so we expect the quarterly pace of growth to cool a little in the coming quarters. Separate ONS data showed output growth in the construction sector was weaker than first estimated in the third quarter. A preliminary estimate of UK gross domestic product (GDP) last month showed that the construction sector grew by 2.5pc in the third quarter. However, revised data on Friday showed the sector only grew by 1.7pc. However, the ONS said the revision was not big enough to drag down the overall growth for the period. Britain's economy grew by 0.8pc in the third quarter, compared with the previous three months, according to a preliminary estimate. The ONS will release revised GDP figures later this month.