UK recession deeper than expected

Published Jun 28, 2012

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Official statisticians say Britain's current recession is deeper than they had thought.

The Office for National Statistics said Thursday that the economy shrank by 0.4 percent in the last quarter of 2011, a bigger dip than the 0.3 percent drop reported previously.

However, the agency confirmed its earlier estimate that GDP fell by 0.3 percent in the first quarter of this year. Two consecutive quarters of contraction is the official definition of a recession.

Analysts fear that the recession has continued in the current quarter, in part because of lost production during the extra holiday to celebrate the diamond jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. - Sapa-AP

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