Britain fails to exit recession

London - Britain failed to climb out of its deep recession in the third quarter, when the country's output unexpectedly slumped by 0.4%, official data showed on Friday.

"Gross Domestic Product (GDP) decreased by 0.4% in the third quarter of 2009, compared with a decrease of 0.6% in the second quarter," the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.

Economists had expected Britain to exit recession in the July-September period with a return to growth of 0.2% after five quarters of shrinking output.

- AFP