NIESR estimates fourth quarter GDP growth slowed to 0.6 percent

LONDON (Reuters) - British economic growth slowed in the final three months of 2014 but still recorded its strongest full-year performance since 2007, a leading think tank estimated on Friday.

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) estimated that quarter-on-quarter growth in gross domestic product eased to 0.6 percent for the period October-December, down from 0.7 percent in the three months to September.

Private-sector economists had been forecasting a similar slowdown in growth as business surveys and official data fell back from unusually high levels seen earlier in 2014.

"This is broadly in line with the average quarter-on-quarter growth over the last 18 months," NIESR said.

For 2014 as a whole, NIESR calculates the economy grew by 2.6 percent, up from 1.7 percent in 2013 and the strongest annual reading since the financial crisis, but well below full-year growth forecasts from the Bank of England (BoE) and economists.

The BoE and private-sector forecasts were based on GDP data for the first nine months of 2014 which were heavily revised down by the Office for National Statistics just before Christmas.

(Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Susan Fenton)