Recession 100% official now

mustrum_ridcully

So the UK is officially in recession now, first time since 1991.
Gross domestic product fell by 1.5% in the last three months of 2008 after a 0.6% drop in the previous quarter.

purch

Well it would have nice if SOMEONE could have given us some warning this was gonna happen :rolleyes:

kennyboy66_2

1.5% is staggeringly bad.

stonethrower

kennyboy66 wrote: »

1.5% is staggeringly bad.

Couldn't agree more that is a scary figure. The city wont like it, £ and FTSE will take a hit I reckon

steadysaver

stonethrower wrote: »

Couldn't agree more that is a scary figure. The city wont like it, £ and FTSE will take a hit I reckon

The FTSE just dipped below 4000, and the pound is now at its lowest against the dollar for some time.

I see petrol prices are creeping back up again too. My local was 85.9 on Wednesday, by Thursday it was 88.9. Go Dollar.......

Generali

FTSE was always going to be in trouble after Sony's announcement this am.

The GDP figures are very bad. Falling pound might help with the next lot. Falling oil price probably won't as the UK is still a big producer of oil although a net importer.

Link to the ONS take on the figures:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=192

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted by 1.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2008, compared with a decrease of 0.6 per cent in the third quarter. The increased rate of decline in output was due to weaker services and production industries output.

Construction output decreased by 1.1 per cent, compared with a decrease of 0.2 per cent in the previous quarter.

Total production output weakened further in the fourth quarter, decreasing by 3.9 per cent, compared with a fall of 1.4 per cent in the previous quarter. Manufacturing output made the largest contribution to the slow down, falling by 4.6 per cent compared with a 1.6 per cent decrease in the previous quarter. Mining and quarrying fell by 1.6 per cent compared with a decrease of
1.1 per cent in the third quarter. Electricity, gas and water output decreased by 0.2 per cent, compared with a fall of 0.6 per cent in the previous quarter.

Services output weakened by 1.0 per cent compared with a fall of 0.5 per cent in the third quarter. Distribution, hotels and restaurants made the largest contribution to the decrease in output. Government and other services and transport and communication contributed most to the increased rate of decline.

Distribution, hotels and restaurants fell by 2.4 per cent, compared with a decrease of 2.1 per cent in the previous quarter. Weaker wholesaling and motor trades output contributed most to the reduction.

Transport, storage and communication fell by 2.0 per cent, compared with a fall of 0.1 per cent in the third quarter. Land transport and transport support made the largest contribution to the decrease in output.

Business services and finance decreased by 0.5 per cent, compared with a decrease of 0.6 per cent in the previous quarter. Other business services made the largest contribution to the fall in output, this was partly offset by increased growth in computing.

Government and other services output fell by 0.5 per cent, compared with positive growth of 0.6 per cent in the previous quarter. Weaker recreation and sewage and refuse made the largest contribution to the decrease.

Agriculture, forestry and fishing output increased by 0.1 per cent compared with a decrease of 0.4 per cent in the previous quarter.

(Reproduced in full as the ONS don't appear to claim copyright).

louiser123

when i saw this headline its official we are in a recession!!! my first thought was have we not been in a recession for months?? good lord how bad does it have to get before they actually do admit things!! lol

Generali

louiser123 wrote: »

when i saw this headline its official we are in a recession!!! my first thought was have we not been in a recession for months?? good lord how bad does it have to get before they actually do admit things!! lol

A recession is defined as 2 consecutive quarters of falling (often described as 'negative growth') of GDP.

That means by the time a recession is official it's been going on for 6 months already!

Unfortunately, there isn't really a way around it.

akks

There is now the real prospect of riots on the streets of Britain!

slipthru

Well i didn't see this coming.

Generali

akks wrote: »

There is now the real prospect of riots on the streets of Britain!

People don't riot because the country is officially in a recession. People riot because they are desperate or because they have been silenced and don't see another way to get their view across or because they're drunk and it seems like a good idea at the time.