Sharp fall in retail sales for January

According to recently released figures January saw a sharp fall in the level of retail sales, with sales levels falling at their sharpest level in a year and a half. Read more

Tags: food sales, whilst, Office for National Statistics, cash flows, recessions, retail sales, double dip recession

Recession over for UK

It was announced last week that the UK has finally come out of recession. All of the other major economies had already come out of recession, with the UK left lagging behind but following the release of recent figures the UK has now joined the other countries that have at last shaken off the recession and can now start looking forward. Figures showed that in the final three months of 2009 the UK economy grew by 0.1 percent. Read more

Tags: recessions, Late 2000s recession in Europe, United Kingdom, economics, Economy of the United Kingdom

Is the recession finally over?

To many people it may feel as though the UK has been stuck in recession forever, and the recent recession has resulted in many businesses and consumers suffering hugely as a result of job losses, plummeting sales and profits, and financial and economic chaos. Read more

Tags: Economic history, Macroeconomics, Economy of the United Kingdom, Late-2000s recession, recessions, economics

No movement in Bank of England base rate

It has been announced by the Bank of England that the base rate is to remain at its record low level of 0.5 percent once again, making this the eleventh month in a row where the base rate will have been at its lowest level in the history of the Bank of England. The decision comes just over a week after it was announced that the UK had finally joined other major economies by coming out of recession. Read more

Tags: inflation, economics, bank of england, bank of england base rate, recessions, interest rate, base rate

Record numbers having to take on part time work

Recent figures have shown that record numbers of people in the UK have had to take on part time work through the recession as a result of being unable to get any full time employment. Whilst the rising number of people taking on part time work has helped to bring unemployment figures down for many of these workers the hours that they are working are not bringing in adequate income to continue keeping on top of their bills, rent or mortgage, and financial commitments. Read more

Tags: Types of unemployment, record numbers, part time work, office, total, recessions, unemployment, economics

Cold weather does not put Christmas shoppers off

With the effects of the recession and the global financial crisis still taking its toll on many households many may have been keen to cut back on the spending this Christmas and try and avoid spending a fortune over the festive season. However, despite the financial difficulties that many are facing at present it appears that even the freezing weather in the UK has not put off the shoppers that are determined to get their purchases bagged and home in time for the big day. Read more

Tags: New West End Company, credit, Snow, economics, Richard Dickinson, recessions, purchases, christmas

Is the Recession Coming to a Close?

According to the G8 ministers at a recent meeting in Italy, the world’s largest economies are starting to become more stable. However, they do warn that there are still risks to be faced. Consumer confidence appears to be on the rise, interest rates are starting to stabilize and the stock market seems to be on the upswing.

In spite of this optimism, a warning comes from the chief of the US Treasury, Tim Geithner. He says it is too early for governments to start bringing an end to their stimulus packages. He advises that they should remain in place until it is clear that the world is starting to recover economically.

The finance minister of the G8 countries met in Lecce, Italy to lay the groundwork for the G8 summit. They concluded that there is still uncertainty in the global market. According to a spokesperson, “Significant risks remain to economic and financial stability.”

There is a great possibility that unemployment numbers could still continue to rise even after stability occurs in the market.

In their joint statement, the ministers agreed that there are signs of hope, saying “We have taken forceful and co-ordinated action to stabilise the financial sector and provide stimulus to restore economic growth and there are signs of stabilisation in our economies.”

Geithner does agree that there are signs of hope, but cautions, “The global economy is still operating well below potential and we still face acute challenges.”

He went on to say, “I don’t think we’re at the point yet where we can say we have a recovery in place.” In his opinion it is way too early to start thinking of moving away from the economic policies that have been put in place to intervene in the banking crisis that occurred in September, 2008.

The Chancellor of the UK, Alastair Darling said that the economic prospects of Britain are still closely linked with those of the other G8 countries. He told the Reuters news agency, “A lot will depend on other countries making progress: on cleaning up their bank balance sheets; volatility in commodity prices, oil for example. So I think there are reasons to be cautious.”

Just two months before this meeting, the heads of the G* governments met in London and agreed to inject billions of dollars into the global economy. Although the finance ministers at the meeting in Italy agreed to start considering the scale back of the economic stimulus packages, Darling points out that it is very unlikely that this will happen at any time in the very near future. One thing we are absolutely clear about is we are not there yet. No-one’s talking about exiting now, this is some way down the track. We’ve still got to work this through,” he said.

Where the economy is headed is anyone’s guess at the present time. Some sectors of the economy are starting to look a lot better than they were several months ago, but at the same time, businesses that were doing well at that point in time are starting to experience difficulties.

Tags: Tim Geithner, g8 summit, uk economy, agency, Banking, opinion, recessions, bank

Buy to let investors to be hit hard by recession

It has been claimed that the buy to let industry is set to be hit hard as a result of the ongoing recession, with buy to let investors expected to lose money and take a real financial hit in the current economic and financial climate. Read more

Tags: recessions, finance, uy, Many investors, Mortgages

Recession in UK could almost be over

Officials from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research have recently stated that the recession in the UK has almost completed its course, and could soon be over despite concerns from other industry groups and officials that it could last for another one to two years. Read more

Tags: recession, National Statistics, growth, recessions, encouraging figures, profile, private sector

Jobless could exceed two million next month

Officials have recently reported that the number of jobless people in the UK could break through the two million barrier when figures are released in February, with figures for the latter part of last year showing that the spate of redundancies in the various sectors had already pushed unemployment levels up to 1.92 million. With a rise of 131,000 unemployed in the latter part of 2008 the figure soared to the highest number of jobless in over ten years. Read more

Tags: light at the end of the tunnel, unemployment, stability, recessions, uk jobs

Employers say economy at risk of recession

Employers from small and medium sized businesses in the UK have said that the economy is at serious risk of recession. The warning came after a small business survey was carried out earlier this month, with businesses warning that the economy could slide into recession within a matter of months. The survey showed that orders and sales for small and medium sized businesses in the manufacturing and services sector had been drying up over the past three months. Read more

Tags: day, economy, interest, recessions, Late 2000s recession in Europe, mortgage lender, bank, recession