Official figures show that Britain's economy slowed even more sharply than expected in the last three months of 2008 as construction output plunged.
The Office for National Statistics said the economy shrank by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, the sharpest decline since 1980. This revised down an earlier estimate of a 1.5% fall. The annual rate of decline was revised down to 2%, the sharpest fall since 1991.
The ONS said a huge downward revision to construction output was the main reason for the changed figure. Construction output fell 4.9% in the quarter, the biggest quarterly fall since Q4 1980.
The household saving ratio jumped to 4.8%, the highest since early and compared with 1.7% in the previous quarter.
Separate figures showed Britain's current account deficit narrowed to £7.64 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008 from an upwardly revised deficit of £8.16 billion pounds in Q3.
