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United Kingdom officially enters economic recession

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Friday, January 23, 2009

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The United Kingdom has officially entered recession, with two consecutive quarters of negative growth. The last recession for the UK was nearly 18 years ago.

The UK's gross domestic product shrank by 0.6% in the third quarter of 2008; this was followed by a 1.5% contraction in the following quarter. "The increased rate of decline in output was due to weaker services and production industries output," commented the Office for National Statistics in a statement released today.

The Bank of England in Threadneedle Street, London, England.

"Manufacturing output made the largest contribution to the slowdown, falling by 4.6 per cent compared with a 1.6 per cent decrease in the previous quarter," the Office continued. Agriculture, fishing and forestry were the only industries not to fall between the last two quarters.

UK shadow chancellor George Osborne commented that, "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." Bank of England Governor Mervyn King had previously commented that he felt there would be a recession until at least the first half of 2009, accompanied by "further marked falls in output."

The UK joins a long list of countries in recession, including Germany, Italy, Singapore and the United States. The current global financial crisis was triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis in the US.


Sources

  Learn more about the Economy of the United Kingdom and the Financial crisis of 2007–2009 on Wikipedia.
 

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Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

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