ONS figures confirm that British economy is still in recession
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The British economy is officially still in recession, contrary to analysts’ expectations, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The economy shrank by 0.3% in the third quarter of this year, not the 0.4% contraction first estimated by the ONS last month.
However, despite the 0.1 percentage point improvement, the revised ONS figures confirm that the country has been in recession since the second quarter of 2008, making this recession the longest on record.
Many analysts expressed surprise at the first ONS estimate, having expected to see the economy come out of recession. Growth of 0.2% was widely forecast.
According to the new ONS data, output in the service industries was revised to a fall of 0.1%. This is an improvement on the original estimate of a 0.2% decline.
The volume of output in the production industries fell by 0.8%, within which manufacturing fell by 0.1%.
The business services and finance industries declined by 0.3% over the period, compared with a fall of 0.7% in the second quarter of the year.
In real terms, household expenditure was broadly unchanged from the level of the previous quarter, the ONS says.
Britain’s net trade deficit increased to £7.2 billion, up from £6.5 billion in the second quarter, trimming GDP growth by 0.2% as imports rose faster than exports.
