The United Kingdom is still deep in recession, reports Janos Gal.
The UK economy shrank by 0.4% in the last quarter from July to August reports the National Statistics. It is the longest period of recession since records began in 1955.
This is the second year that the economy has contracted, or the sixth quarter, making the UK one of the worst hit economies in the European Union.
Germany and France came out of recession six months ago, and leading politicians and businessmen expected the UK would come out of recession by the end of 2009.
“There are many millions of people who will be deeply concerned to see that Britain is still in recession six months after France and Germany came out of recession,” told George Osborne, Shadow Chancellor the BBC.
He said that the new data means that the measures such as low interest rates and quantitative easing that the government said would turn the economy around have not worked.
He added: “It destroys the myth that Britain was better prepared.”
Source: news.bbc.co.uk
“Third quarter GDP is awful, with no positive news within the report, the UK may be the only major economy to have contracted in the third quarter” said James Knightley, economist at ING.
Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of Exchequer said that confidence is returning but it will still take some more time to recover.
“I have always been clear that I did not expect to see growth until around the turn of the year and I have consistently said that we are not out of the woods yet.”
