UK Economy avoids triple-dip Recession
The UK economy avoided what would have been devastating news today, as first quarter growth of 0.3pc was reported, and a triple-dip recession avoided.
A recession is confirmed when the economy experiences two consecutive periods of decline, and after a final quarter of 2012 growth figure of -0.3pc, any further decline would have officially seen the economy back in recession.
The growth figure is also better than expected. Many predictions from politicians and journalists yesterday didn’t rise over 0.1pc, while there were those who thought the economy would certainly enter into another period of recession.
The UK is still to start a proper recovery from the drastic economic decline experienced in 2008, and since then has been on a plateau, constantly rising out of decline before once again threatening a recession.
The has led to a great deal of pessimism about quarterly growth results, as many think we are not recovering, but simply staying at a lowly level we fell to in 2008.
This latest set of results is no different, as Labour MP and member of the Treasury committee, John Mann explains: “We’re falling further and further behind our competitors and of course the big emerging economies – the China’s, the India’s – they’re galloping ahead of us. They’re worrying if they’re down to eight, nine percent. They’re seeing that as a crisis”.
The service sector was the strongest in terms of growth over the first quarter, and showed good results of 0.6pc, with strong results from hotels and restaurants, while transport and communications contributed with growth of 1.4pc.
On the other hand however, construction fell by 2.5pc in the first quarter, leaving it at a level that is 18pc lower than before the 2008 recession, while the total economy is 2.6pc below peak levels before the downturn.
Share this..
Related stories
Bank of England sticks at 5.25%
The Bank of England has kept interest rates at 5.25 per cent, despite slowing consumer spending.Several reports have suggested that the UK might be moving towards recession due to the ongoing credit crunch.Ordinarily, this would lead to interest rate cuts in order to provide an economic stimulus.However, concerns over increasing food and fuel costs appear to have prevented the Bank from making the...
Read MoreRichard Branson calls for overhaul of UK rail franchises
Amid concerns that many of the UK rail franchises are on the verge of collapse, Sir Richard Branson, owner of Virgin Trains, has stepped into the mix to suggest that the government needs to address the immediate problems. He believes strongly that the government needs to extend the length of current franchises in order to allow operators to look further ahead and invest significant capital for the...
Read MoreAre conditions right for a UK economic revival?
Despite the fact that more and more economists believe that the UK economy is on the verge of recovery, are conditions right for a strong recovery in the UK economy? In simple terms when you look at record UK government borrowing, subdued mortgage lending, high unemployment, inflation springing back to life and record low interest rates having little impact upon the economy, it is difficult to...
Read MoreGordon Brown calls on Bank of England to reduce base rates yet further
Gordon Brown has put himself in the rather awkward situation of seemingly trying to dictate the monetary policy of the Bank of England with a call for further UK base rate cuts in a speech in America. This is the first time for many years we have seen a UK prime minister openly call for the Bank of England, which is supposed to be independent from the government of the day, suggesting that base ra...
Read MoreHigh street bounces back
Retail sales rose at their fastest rate for more than two years in February, official data has revealed.According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), sales on the high street were up 1.4 per cent between January and last month.The news is welcome relief to retailers, who experienced a 1.8 per cent new year sales slump in the first month of 2007."There were robust increases in February for...
Read More