LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown suggested that the global economy was in depression when he addressed lawmakers on Wednesday, but officials said it was just a slip of the tongue.
"We should agree, as a world, on a monetary and fiscal stimulus that will take the world out of depression," Brown said during his weekly parliamentary questions session. He initially started to say the word "recession" before opting for "depression".
Brown's office downplayed the prime minister's words, saying they were a slip of the tongue.
"It is not deliberate and it is not what he thinks," a Downing Street spokesman said.
Last week, Brown admitted the country was facing a "deep recession".
A depression is characterised by a sustained economic downturn, high unemployment, a plunge in international trade and personal income as well as a move towards protectionism, as experienced in the 1930s.
It is the second time Brown has apparently stumbled during questions in the lower chamber in the past few months.
In December, he drew howls of laughter from the opposition benches when he accidentally said he had saved the world during questions about the global crisis.
"The first point of recapitalisation was to save banks that would otherwise have collapsed," he said before adding: "And we not only saved the world, er, saved the banks..."
Brown has consistently called for concerted and co-ordinated global fiscal stimulus packages to stop the current financial crisis from worsening, noting that the British economy will only improve if all major countries take similar measures.
Last month, the International Monetary Fund said the global economy was slowing to a virtual standstill. It forecast Britain's would be the worst-hit of the leading industrial economies, set to shrink by 2.8 percent this year.
Brown, who trails the opposition Conservatives in opinion polls and must call a general election by mid-2010, will host a Group of 20 summit on April 2 on the global economic crisis. (Reporting by Frank Prenesti; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)