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LONDON, ENGLAND - BRITAIN'S economy experienced zero growth in the second quarter compared to the first three months of 2008, the Office for National Statistics confirmed on Tuesday.
The 0.0-percent quarterly growth rate was the weakest performance for 16 years and was unchanged from the previous estimate given last month.
Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 1.5 per cent during the second quarter compared with the Apr-Jun period in 2007, the ONS added in a statement.
The 12-month figure was revised upwards after a previous estimate of 1.4-per cent growth.
'GDP still stagnated in the second quarter compared to the first, which was the first time that the economy had failed to grow since the second quarter of 1992,' said Mr Howard Archer, chief Britain economist at the Global Insight consultancy in London.
He added, 'The risk of a deeper and longer recession is currently rising markedly due to the heightened financial sector problems and accompanying tighter credit conditions.'
'This is more than countering the help to growth coming from the recent marked overall retreat in oil and commodity prices.'
Earlier this month, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) forecast that Britain faced a recession this year.
The OECD, the Paris-based grouping of 30 developed countries, predicted that the British economy would fall into recession in the second half, contracting by 0.3 per cent in the third quarter and 0.4 per cent in the fourth.
The technical definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth. -- AFP
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