Britain Officially in Recession

[efq]

Britain has officially slipped into recession with shock figures confirming the worst quarterly contraction since 1980.

Credit crisis: Britain is now officially in recession

Experts said the figure was far worse than expected.
The economy shrunk by 1.5% in the final three months of 2008.
That is the worst performance in more than 28 years, according to the Office for National Statistics.
But retail sales grew by a shock 1.6% in December.

This is going to be a difficult year for families throughout the country.

The last time Britain was in recession was in 1991.
And the last time GDP suffered a bigger fall quarter-on-quarter was between April and June 1980, when the economy was in a deep downturn.
London's leading share index plummeted back below the 4000 barrier at one stage in response to the figures.
Shadow chancellor George Osborne said the figures showed Britain faced its worst slump for a generation.
"I think we are facing an exceptionally difficult time and unfortunately the figures that have just come out today confirm this is now going to be the worst recession for a generation, " he told told Sky News.

The economy has been in what has felt like freefall for several months with thousands of jobs axed and a cull of high profile retailers.
A lending drought has hit the housing and constructions markets hard, with all sectors across the economy now suffering.
But a recession is called only after two successive quarters of negative financial growth.
Financial growth is measured by Gross Domestic Product, which refers to the total economic activity of the country.
Bank of England Governor Mervyn King warned this week that the recession would last into the first half of this year, with "further marked falls in output".
Business body the CBI warned the recession was set to be worse than that of the early 1990s.
John Cridland, CBI deputy director-general, said: "The intensity and speed of falling demand combined with the global credit crunch mean this recession is going to be more painful than the early 1990s and sadly one consequence of this will be much higher unemployment."

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Bus...s_In_Recession

[Jahova]

Wahey, fun fun fun for everyone!
We knew it all along anyway.