Britain's economy shrank by 6.4% between the first quarter of 2008 and the fourth quarter of 2009. It has grown by just 2.2% since then. Output in America and Germany has surpassed its pre-financial crisis level, and France's is not far off it, but British gdp is still almost 4% lower than it was three years ago.The announcement by the Office for National Statistics (ons) this week that growth in the second quarter of 2011 was just 0.2%, and expansion in the year to June a measly 0.7%, confirms that recovery from the recent recession may well be the slowest since the 1930s (see chart). It has also re-ignited a bitter debate over whether the government should focus less on cutting the deficit and more on fomenting growth.
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