WALES has failed to improve its status as the least prosperous part of the UK, according to figures out today.

It again came bottom of an economic league table that has ranked it as the worst-performing nation or region since slipping below Northern Ireland in 1998.

Gross value added (GVA), which measures the size of regional economies, was £14,842 per head in 2009, down 2.5% on the previous year. For the UK as a whole GVA per head fell 2.7%.

GVA per head in Wales is 74.3% of the UK average, the lowest among the devolved countries and English regions.

Politicians in Cardiff Bay and Westminster traded blows over who was to blame for Wales's poor showing.

Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones said an economic renewal programme he launched this year, which will cut direct grants to companies so more can be spent on infrastructure, aimed to "transform the business environment’’.

"What we want to do is to create the right conditions to allow the private sector to flourish,’’ he said.

"These figures show how all parts of the UK were hit hard as the first phase of the global recession took hold.

"While relative GVA per head in Wales performed slightly better than the UK as a whole during that period, our share of total GVA remains a challenge.

"This is why we needed a change in direction and a fresh determination to create a stronger economy as we emerge from recession.’’ Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan said the figures showed the scale of the task faced by the UK Government as it tries to stabilise the national finances.

She said: "It is hugely disappointing that today's figures show that under the final year of the previous Government Wales was still the poorest part of the UK and the prosperity gap with the rest of the UK is widening.

"The prosperity level in Wales is now below what it was when the Welsh Assembly was created in 1999 and is significantly below the level it was at in 1989 under the last Conservative Government.