UK fourth-quarter growth falls by 0.2%

Britain’s economy contracted slightly in the last quarter of 2011, official data on Wednesday showed, raising fears of a double dip recession.

The data underscore the message on Tuesday from Mervyn King, central bank governor, that the path to recovery will be “arduous”.

The Office for National Statistics said that in the last three months of 2011, GDP slipped by 0.2 per cent, slightly more than the 0.1 per cent decline forecasted by economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.