LONDON: The recession is now on a par with the very worst year of the Great Depression. Revised figures on Tuesday uncovered the full extent of Britain's economic contraction.
The economy shrank by 4.9 per cent in the year to the first quarter of 2009, the Office for National Statistics said. The fall in gross domestic product was far greater than previously calculated, as the government statistician realised the full scale of the fall in company activity.
"Clearly this is now the worst peacetime recession since the 1930s," said economist Michael Saunders of Citigroup. The worst contraction then was a year of about -5 per cent and "this year will not be hugely different".
The contraction in GDP during the first quarter alone was 2.4 per cent - the previous estimate was 1.9 per cent. This was the biggest one-quarter fall in 35 years.
read full article at The Sydney morning herald
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