Business

Shock figures show Britain is still in recession
by Magdalena Rosova

Official data showed that Britain is the last leading world power which is still in recession. But economists forecast that the growth will come before the end of 2009. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) stated that the English economy shrank by 0.3 percent in the third quarter. However, ONS initially estimated GDP to fall 0.4 percent. Economist Charles Davis said that the data from the third quarter showed a small improvement. Other major countries in eurozone, France, Germany and also Japan and the United States have all reported growth. But Britain is still facing huge unemployment and public debt. In this state, United Kingdom will hold an election in 2010! , which Conservatives are expected to win and todays Prime Minister Gordon Brown with his Labour party is tipped to lose. The definition of a recession is a general slowdown in economic activity over a long period of time (two or more quarters), or a business cycle contraction. British economy has already been in recession for six months. Analysts say this is the longest recession since 1955. British GDP decreased 5.1 percent in the third quarter compared with last year. The data shocked markets because they expected the economy to return to growth. But some analysts are trying to be more optimistic. For example economist Howard Archer said that positive thing is that GDP fell less than previously estimated. It also means that economist are less wrong in their forecasts of a return to growth and Archer believes that the economy will finally start growing.

related story (sgx16006): http://business.timeso! nline.co .uk/tol/business/economics/art...

by Magdalena Rosova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

posted by Blog TechSource @ 1:55 PM