British economy shrinks by 0.5% in Q2

Britain's economic output fell by 0.5 percent in the second quarter, which was better than previously thought but still left the country mired in recession, official data showed on Friday. "UK gross domestic product (GDP) in volume terms decreased by 0.5 percent in the second quarter of 2012, revised from the previously estimated 0.7 percent decline," the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement. Smaller-than-expected falls in the production and construction sectors were behind the revision. The GDP figure tallied with analysts' consensus forecast for a contraction of 0.5 percent between April and June. Britain was already in recession after posting two successive negative quarters since late 2011. The economy shrank 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and by 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2012. Both these readings were left unchanged. The ONS added on Friday that economic output dropped 0.5 percent in the second quarter compared with the same period one year earlier. That also marked an improvement from the prior estimate for a contraction of 0.8 percent.