Britain stuck in recession

Wednesday, December 23, 2009
LONDON: Britain remains the last major economy in recession according to official data released on Tuesday, although signs of recovery emerged as the country’s output shrank less than previously forecast.

The Office for National Statistics said that British gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 0.2 per cent during the July-September period compared with the previous three-month period.

Although the data was better than a previous ONS estimate of minus 0.3 per cent, analysts’ consensus forecast had been for a revision to minus 0.1 per cent.

Britain officially ends 2009 as the only top economy in recession after the eurozone, France, Germany, Japan and the United States have all emerged from a deep downturn that was sparked by the global financial crisis.

“Gross domestic product contracted by 0.2 per cent in the third quarter of 2009,” the ONS said in a statement.

“This has been revised from a fall of 0.3 per cent in the previous estimate of GDP, due to upward revisions to construction partly offset by downward revisions to production and services.

“GDP remains 5.1 per cent lower than the third quarter of 2008,” added the statistics office.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government, heading for defeat in next year’s general election according to polls, believes that the country has returned to growth during the current fourth quarter.