The UK economy finally returned to growth in the fourth quarter of last year after the deepest recession since records began more than half a century ago, but at a far weaker rate than expected.
The economy grew 0.1 per cent in the final three months of the year but was well below the 0.4 per cent expansion expected by economists and an even more optimistic forecast from the Bank of England.
The economy returned to growth after suffering six quarters of contraction that extended from the second quarter of 2008 to the third quarter of 2009 and saw the economy shrink by 6.1 per cent. Over the course of 2009 as a whole, gross domestic product fell 4.8 per cent, the biggest year-on-year fall since 1949.
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