UK recession 'less bad than 1929'

The NIESR said the recession was worse than the one in 1979

The current recession in the UK will not be as bad as the one in 1929.

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research said the economy shrank 1.5% in the three months to the end of April, down from 1.9% in for the three months to the end of March.

"This improvement means that the output fall since the start of the recession is no longer as sharp as that in the 1929 recession," it said.

Official figures for economic growth are only published every three months.

The first estimate of Gross Domestic Product for the three months to the end of June will be released on 24 July.

Between official quarterly figures, The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) tries to estimate figures each month.

It said that while its figure of 1.5% made the fall in output less steep than the 1929 recession, it is still greater than the 1979 recession, the largest previous fall since World War II.

The research institute has predicted that UK GDP will contract by 4.3% in the whole of 2009 and then grow in 2010 by 0.9%.

"The economy does appear close to stabilisation but it is too early to say this is marking a clear turning point," said NIESR director Martin Weale.