Britain announces sharp upward revision to growth forecasts

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne delivers his keynote speech at the annual Conservative party conference in Manchester, northern England September 30, 2013. REUTERS/Toby Melville·Reuters
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LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's government announced the biggest upgrade to official growth projections in more than a decade on Thursday, following the UK economy's surprisingly strong turnaround.

In a budget update, finance minister George Osborne said the economy was on track to grow by 1.4 percent this year - more than double the 0.6 percent penciled in at the time of the March budget.

Growth in 2014, he said, was expected to be 2.4 percent, up from the previous estimate of 1.8 percent.

Having been a laggard for several years, Britain has overtaken its euro zone peers to become one of the fastest-growing advanced economies in the world.

However, the economy remains smaller than it was before the financial crisis, which is not the case for most of Britain's trading partners.

(Reporting by Christina Fincher; Editing by Susan Fenton)

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