Britain in recession, data confirms

Britain is in recession for the first time since 1991 after its economy shrank during the final two quarters of last year as a global financial crisis raged, official data showed on Friday.

The Office for National Statistics said that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had shrunk by 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared with the previous three month period, when it also contracted.

The generally-used technical definition of a recession is two quarters running of negative economic growth.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Friday he was using "every weapon at our disposal" to fight the economic crisis.

Speaking ahead of the release of the data, Brown stressed international co-operation was vital to tackle the financial crisis. He described the current circumstances as "completely different" to previous recessions, the last of which came in the early 1990s.

"We're fighting this recession with every weapon at our disposal," Brown told BBC radio. "But we need the international co-operation as well."

Brown indicated that he believed the length and depth of the recession would depend on the extent of such co-operation.

"I think it depends all the time on what is the level of international cooperation," he said.

"Coming out of America in the next few weeks will be a major, major stimulus package, that will help the rest of the world and help America.

"Other countries in Europe are about to make decisions themselves about the future and I think that is very, very important as well.

"And if for example China could create more domestic expansion itself then the world would be going in harmony" to deal with the failure in the banking system."