The UK economy contracted by a provisional -0.7% in Q2 2012. This is a much bigger decline than most analysts expected. It means more bad news for the UK economy, struggling to regain positive economic growth. The biggest falls in economic output occurred in sectors such as: Agriculture – 2% Mining -5.9% Manufacturing – 1.4% …
Readers Question: Whose is to blame for the continued UK recession? With the banking crisis and economic recession, politics seems to be currently dominated by a ‘blame’ game – trying to work out whose fault it is. Unsurprisingly, the coalition have tried to shift blame on to Euro crisis and banks. Others have blamed the …
For the past several months, the governor of the Bank of England has had to write a letter to the Chancellor explaining why UK inflation has been above the government’s target of 1-3%. April 2012 gives the first on target inflation figure (1-3%) since Dec 2009. Core inflation which strips out energy and food has …
France national debt has increased significantly over the past two decades. In 1985, government debt was 37.9% of their GDP. French national debt is now 85% of GDP. In Q4 2011, French debt is currently 1717 bn Euro Source: INSEE – general government debt according to Maastricht criteria. Up to Q4 2011 Public sector debt …
We may be in a longer recession than the 1930s Great Depression (see: link) but it hasn’t prevented the richest people in Britain increase their net wealth. The richest 1000 men and women have a combined wealth of £414bn, up 4.7% on the previous year. Richest People in the World 2012 1. The Walton …
We have frequently heard the statement that we are experiencing the worst recession since the 1930s, but data released from the ONS shows that the fall in GDP is actually more prolonged in the current 2008-12 recession than the Great Depression of the 1930s. source: Office of National Statistics (pdf): In terms of human misery …
Preliminary figures for Q1 2012 show the UK has re-entered recession, with a second successive quarter of negative economic growth. The negative economic growth occurred despite a small growth in the service sector and spurt in retail sales of petrol. The biggest factor contributing to the negative economic growth came from the construction sector, which …
Inflation in the UK remains relatively high given the state of the economy. It continues to be above the Bank of England’s target of 1-3%. However, the MPC will not be overly concerned about inflation. They are more worried about the weak prospects for economic growth and will be ‘hoping’ / predicting inflation will continue …