Revised figures
Revised figures
Revised GDP figures show that the uk economy grew by 0.3% in the 4th quater of 2009.
The initial estimate last month showed a 0.1% in the last quater of 2009.
The economy had been on a slide dropping for the last six quaters. The longest period since quaterly records where first recorded in 1955.
Categories: The future Tags: economy up, revised figures
Pound slides against dollar on UK economic worries
Pound slides against dollar on UK economic worries
The pound has fallen to a nine-month low against the dollar with fears over the strength of the UK economy largely blamed for the slide.
Sterling fell 1.4 cents to $1.5261, the weakest since May 2009, and also dropped back against the euro. Analysts said investors were increasingly concerned that the UK would struggle to tackle its deficit. There are also worries that GDP growth of 0.1% seen in the final three months of 2009 may be revised downwards.
The next revision of GDP will be released on Friday and if it proves to have been a negative figure, that would show the UK had failed to emerge from the uk recession.
Last week, figures showed that UK inflation had accelerated to 3.5% and that public finances had deteriorated further after the government borrowed another £4.3bn in January to plug the growing hole in the UK's finances.
"The moves in sterling have gone further than most other currencies because of the poor UK data, raising concerns that weaknesses in the economy remain," said Lauren Rosborough, currency strategist at Westpac.
The UK's deficit was 11.8% of GDP last year and is forecast to climb further in 2010 to levels similar to that of beleaguered Greece.
Bank of England governor Mervyn King this week told MPs that he believed there was no danger of a downgrade on the UK currency's AAA status.
However Rabobank International currency strategist Jeremy Sketch said that many investors were not convinced about the security of its rating.
"Sterling is being seen in the risk bucket and risk is off the agenda right now," Mr Sketch told Bloomberg.
Some observers have also suggested that the political uncertainty facing the UK is also contributing to sterling's weakness.
Opinion polls suggest that the lead of the Conservative Party over the governing Labour Parliament is narrowing.
This increases the prospect of a hung parliament - seen as troublesome for struggling economies as it makes it harder for whoever is in power to quickly act to begin tackling economic problems.
Categories: uk Recession Tags: currency aa status, dollar, stirling, uk Recession
rbs 2009 losses
Rbs 2009 losses
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has announced losses for 2009 of £3.6bn ($5.5bn), after struggling with billions of pounds of bad loans.
Despite the losses, the bank is set to announce it will pay bonuses of £1.3bn to its staff.
The bank's chief executive, Stephen Hester, however, has said he will not take his own bonus.
The UK taxpayer owns 84% of RBS after the government bailed out the bank at the end of 2008.
Mr Hester told BBC Radio 4's Today programme RBS had lost out by not paying bigger bonuses. "We've had a small experiment in this respect... some of our best-performing people have been leaving in their thousands," he said. "The people who left us last year, I believe, would have increased our profits by up to a billion pounds beyond the ones that we've got."
One other controversial topic for the banks has been its role in lending to business and home buyers.
Mr Hester again defended the bank's approach. He said he was satisfied that RBS was fulfilling both the letter and the spirit of its lending commitments, saying it had beaten its target for mortgage lending. Read more...
Categories: uk Recession Tags: bad loans, bonus, rbs losses
Retail sales fall
Retail sales fall
Poor winter weather drove UK retail sales down by 1.8% between December and January, the sharpest drop in 18 months, official figures have shown.
The fall was more than three times faster than analysts had forecast. However the figures were weighed down by the inclusion of petrol in the official figures for the first time as drivers stayed at home in the snow.
The data, from the Office for National Statistics, adds to concerns about the fragility of the UK economic recovery. Sales by value were up 0.9% from January 2009. Fuel sales slipped by 11.1% on the month. When the impact of car fuel sales was stripped out, overall retail sales fell by 1.2%. Food sales fell by 2.4%, but the ONS said the cold weather had boosted sales of clothing.
Double-dip' risk
The period covers the first month since Value Added tax (VAT) returned to 17.5% after a temporary drop to 15%. This is thought to have brought some sales forward to December, thereby hurting the January figures.The data follows on from news that UK inflation had accelerated to 3.5%, that the government borrowed another £4.3bn in January to plug the growing hole in the UK's finances and there had been an unexpected rise in people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance. "January's retail sales figures round off a pretty awful week for news on the UK economy," said Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics."Of course, we knew the January sales figures would be bad after the VAT rise and bad weather. But the drop is even worse than the retail surveys had suggested." He added that sales could bounce back in the coming months - but that as people's wages grew only slowly and prices roses, spending growth was likely to slow.
"At the very least, these numbers provide a very weak platform for sales in the first quarter of this year and therefore raise the chances that the economy may succumb to a double-dip uk recession," Mr Loynes said.
The so-called 'double dip' refers to an economy in recession returning to growth, then quickly contracting again.
Categories: The future Tags: double dip, retail, sales fall, uk Recession