Official figures show that Britain's economy grew at the same pace as previously estimated in the first three months of this year. But the figures also showed that the recession that preceded it was deeper than previously thought.
The Office for National Statistics left first-quarter GDP growth unrevised at 0.3%, giving an annual decline of 0.2%. The figures were in line with economists' forecasts.
The ONS confirmed that Britain exited recession in the fourth quarter of 2010, with the economy expanding at a quarterly rate of 0.4%, as earlier estimated.
As part of a major annual revision of previous quarters' GDP data, the ONS said that Britain's economy contracted by 6.4% between the second quarter of 2008 and the third quarter of 2009, more than the 6.2% previously thought, and wiping an extra £2 billion off the economy.
The ONS also released Q1 current account data, which showed that Britain's deficit with the rest of the world widened to £9.63 billion in the last three months of 2009, more than twice as much as expected and compared with a surplus of £521m in Q4 2009.
