LONDON, Oct 24: The British economy is on the edge of a recession, according to official data on Friday which showed that it shrank by 0.5 per cent in the three months to September, for the first time since 1992.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Britain was suffering the same fate as other countries amid the stubborn global financial crisis.

“This is a global financial recession and we’re fighting it every way we know how, working with other countries, trying to get the banks moving here in Britain, trying to help people with mortgages,” Brown said.

“We’re fighting this recession but we need other countries to work with us and that’s what I’m also spending my time making sure other countries take the action that we’re taking to stop this becoming worse.”

The economy had already shown zero growth in the second quarter. Britain is not officially in recession unless it reports two quarters running of negative economic growth.

Gross domestic product (GDP) grew by just 0.3 per cent during the third quarter compared with the July-September period in 2007, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement on Friday.

“Weaker service industries, construction and production output drove the deceleration in growth,” the ONS added.

Friday’s data was far worse than analysts’ expectations of a quarterly contraction of 0.2 per cent and annual expansion of 0.5 per cent.

Capital Economics analyst Vicky Redwood described the figures as “truly shocking.”

She added: “The fact that a recession is already under way isn’t a surprise -- even (Bank of England Governor) Mervyn King and Gordon Brown referred to it earlier this week.”—AFP