Britain in recession (or depression?)

British recession worse than previously thought

Britain’s recession is deeper than thought as official data on Thursday shows the economy shrank 0.3 percent in the first quarter following a higher-than-expected 0.4-percent contraction in late 2011.

Raw Story,

28 June, 2012

The Office for National Statistics said in a statement that British gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 0.3 percent between January and March compared with the final quarter of last year — confirming its previous reading.

But it revised its data for the fourth quarter of 2011, stating that GDP contracted by 0.4 percent between October and December, worse than a previous estimate of minus 0.3 percent.

A recession is defined as two quarters running of contraction.

…. and a depression, which we have, is a long period of deleveraging quite distinct from normal business cycles.