UK GDP decline revised slightly higher in 2nd Quarter.

By CountingPips.com

The United Kingdom Gross Domestic Product fell for the fifth straight quarter but was revised slightly better than previously esimated according to a report by the Office of National Statistics. The U.K. GDP data showed that quarterly GDP fell by 0.7 percent in the 250140twentypndsfreeApril through June quarter following a decline of 2.4 percent in the first quarter of 2009. The second quarter GDP contraction was previously estimated in a July report to have fallen by 0.8 percent. The first quarter decline had marked the largest decrease since the 2.6 percent fall in the second quarter of 1958.

On an annual basis, the second quarter GDP fell by 5.5 percent from the level of the second quarter of 2008 and marked the largest annual decline since 1955 when records were first kept. The 2009 first quarter had registered an annual decline of 4.9 percent.

Contributing to the decline in GDP was a decrease in total production output by 0.6 percent. Despite this decrease, the production output was significantly better than the 5.1 percent decrease of the first quarter. Also contributing to the second quarter’s GDP fall was a construction output decrease by 2.2 percent while services output fell by 0.6 percent and manufacturing declined by 0.2 percent. Household expenditures decreased by 0.7 percent while government expenditures rose by 0.8 percent in the second quarter.