The fall in gross domestic product (GDP) between October and December compares with 0.9% growth in the third quarter and will raise fears that the UK is on course for an unprecedented triple-dip recession. GDP - a broad measure for the total economy - would have to contract again this quarter for the UK to be back in recession, but hopes of a rebound are starting to fade after a snow-hit start to 2013. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said economic output as a whole remained flat in 2012. The fourth-quarter drop is worse than expected, with most economists forecasting a drop of 0.1%. It deals a blow to recovery hopes after the UK bounced back from the longest double-dip recession since the 1950s in the third quarter. But the rebound was largely driven by one-off factors, such as the Olympics, and as the economy clawed back activity lost during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee holiday, which has skewed quarter-on-quarter changes in activity, the ONS said. The fourth-quarter figures are preliminary estimates and subject to revision.
