UK economy set to fall by 2.8% in 2009
The International Monetary Fund has today issued a report on a variety of Western governments, Western economies and how they are coping with the ongoing economic difficulties. Yet again the UK has been mentioned as the weakest economy in the developed world with forecasts indicating a 2.8% reduction in the UK economy this year. This is the largest one-year fall since 1946 and a rate which is faster than any other industrialised country in the world.
It will be interesting to see how the government react to this report amid claims that the US has been the main perpetrator of UK difficulties. However, even Gordon Brown may find it hard to compare the US economy against the UK economy and still blame the US for the more significant fall in the UK. Slowly but surely his years as Chancellor are beginning to unravel amid claims that excess spending has left the UK with no safety net and dire short-term prospects.
Recently Gordon Brown indicated that he had "not seen the recession coming" which is something of a U-turn compared to his recent strategy of blaming everybody else. Quite what he can do to turn around a situation remains to be seen but the UK economy and the UK population are in for a very difficult 2009.
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