London: Britain's recession-hit economy shrank officially by 0.3 percent in the third quarter but this was better than initial data had shown and was welcomed by economists.
Britain is trailing leading industrialised economies in pulling out of the recession, data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development showed on Monday.
Revised British data for the July-September period was an improvement from the previous estimate of a 0.4-percent contraction, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced in a statement.
"Gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 0.3 percent in the third quarter of 2009," the ONS said.
"This has been revised from a fall of 0.4 percent in the preliminary estimate of GDP, due to upward revisions to services. GDP is 5.1 percent lower than the third quarter of 2008," it added.
Wednesday's data, which was in line with analysts' expectations, confirmed that the British economy has now contracted for six quarters in a row.
Markets were shocked last month when the ONS had revealed the first quarter-on-quarter estimate of a steep 0.4-percent contraction -- because expectations had been for a return to growth.
"The good news is that UK GDP contracted modestly less than previously estimated in the third quarter," said IHS Global Insight economist Howard Archer.
"This is also good news for we economists as it means we were slightly less wrong in our forecasts of a return to growth.
"The bad news is that the data still show the economy in recession in the third quarter and so we economists were still wrong.
"But we will be right in our forecasts that the economy will finally return to growth in the fourth quarter," he added.
The technical definition of a recession is two or more quarters running of contraction, quarter compared with previous quarter..
Britain remains the last major world power still in recession, after the eurozone, France, Germany, Japan and the United States all emerged from the global economic downturn.
However, data showed on Tuesday that the American economy grew at an annual pace of 2.8 percent in the third quarter. That was a sharp downwards revision from the prior estimate of 3.5 percent.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, November 25, 2009, 16:38