Despite the turmoil in global financial markets during the second half of 2007, UK GDP continued to grow at a robust pace. The above trend growth of 2006 continued into the first three quarters of last year and the preliminary estimate of GDP growth shows only a limited moderation into the fourth quarter of last year (figure 1). This suggests we will see a growth rate of 3.1 per cent for 2007 as a whole, a slight acceleration from 2.9 per cent in 2006. This robust growth has been sustained by household consumption and, to a lesser extent, gross fixed investment.