Britain's recession was deeper than estimated previously, official statisticians said Monday, as they confirmed that the economy grew by only 0.3 percent in the first three months of the year.
The Office for National Statistics said Monday GDP fell by 6.4 percent between its peak and the first quarter, worse than the 6.2 percent drop reported previously.
The final figure for quarterly GDP normally gets little attention, but concern had been raised when the agency said it was delaying publication because of potential errors in the calculation published in May. Monday's report shed no light on what errors had been suspected.
"Today's releases highlighted the fragile nature of the recovery so far," said Vicky Redwood, senior U.K. economist at Capital Economics.
"Overall, then, we still doubt that the economy is in a good position to withstand the fiscal squeeze," Redwood added.
Copyright 2010 AP News
