UK posts biggest GDP drop in 50 years

Britain's recession-battered economy is suffering its biggest contraction in more than half a century amid the worst global slowdown in decades. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement on Tuesday that the British economy contracted by 2.4 percent in the first quarter of 2009. The office says the drop is more than the 1.9 percent it had estimated. "Gross domestic product (GDP) in real terms fell by 2.4 percent compared with the previous quarter, revised down from last month's estimate of 1.9 percent. This is the largest decrease since the second quarter of 1958," the ONS said in a statement on Tuesday. ONS says the decline is mainly driven by weaker industrial output in the construction and services sector. "Around half the revision... is a result of new construction output data, while the remainder reflects more complete data for services," it added. Factory production decreased 5.1 percent from October to December 2008 - the largest plunge since the first three months of 1974, as manufacturing output fell. Britain's economy shrank by 4.9 percent in the first quarter on a year-on-year basis.