Despite a shrinkage in manufacturing and widening trade deficit, the IMF have hinted that the UK economy is beginning to emerge from one of the longest periods of economic stagnation / recession on records. They marginally increased their forecast for UK growth to 0.9% for 2013. Does the recent good news give hope to the …
There is mixed evidence about the success of the Funding for Lending scheme Firstly, there is evidence that credit is still tight and firms are struggling to gain finance. Since last August, £1.8bn of credit has been drained out of the system At the same time, up to 40 lenders have accessed the £16.5bn in …
Latest GDP statistics show economic growth of 0.3% in Q1 of 2013. (Link ONS) The strongest growth has come from the service sector (1.3%) and retail in particular. Production industries fell -2.6% in Q1 2013. Construction was hardest hit falling – 6.3% Despite the strongest growth in real disposable income since 2009. (Real household disposable …
Economic defeatism is a situation where policy makers accept an economic situation which is well below potential. Another form of defeatism is to see some problems as intractable and concentrate on dealing with side issues. Economic defeatism is contagious because it can set the tone for the whole economy, making it even more difficult to …
Readers Question: my question is If the UK. had joined the Euro back when it first started would the UK. have benefited like Germany or would we be in the same situation as Greece, Italy, and Spain? If the UK had joined the Euro from the start in 1999, the UK economy would definitely have …
Economists generally agree that a high inflation rate has various economic costs and therefore, we should use economic policy to keep inflation low. Since the mid 1980s, governments have increasingly set strict inflation targets, e.g. ECB inflation of less than 2%. The Bank of England targeting inflation of 2% +/-1. However, some economists argue that …
This years OCR F585 global economy pre-release stimulus material is about Estonia and its economic performance. This post gives a few extra graphs about the state of the Estonian economy and considers important issues and questions, related to Estonia. Brief synopsis From the early 2000s Estonia experienced rapid economic growth as it benefited from joining …
On the day Spain, announced its unemployment rate had increased to a truly staggering 27%, many see the UK’s anaemic growth rate of 0.3% in Q1 2013 as a ‘success’. But, it is worth noting UK real GDP is still considerably below its 2008 peak. Dataset ABMI at ONS When you look at GDP like …