Gordon Brown faced further embarrassment today over Britain’s recovery after it emerged that Ireland's beleaguered economy has emerged from recession.
Irish economic output rose by 0.3 per cent between July and September compared to the second quarter, official figures showed today, leaving the UK as one of the few Western economies still mired in an economic downturn.
The technical definition of a recession is two or more consecutive quarters of falling gross domestic product – a key measure of economic strength. A number of country’s emerged from recession in the third quarter, including America, Japan, China, Germany and France.
However, Britain’s economy continued to shrink, falling by 0.3 per cent in the third quarter according to the most recent estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Although, new estimates out next week are expected to show a more modest contraction in the third quarter, analysts are not forecasting that the UK exited recession.
Last week, Alistair Darling outlined measures to return Britain to health and cut its £178 billion deficit in the Pre-Budget Report ahead of a general election next year.
Despite Ireland’s upbeat data, analysts were cautious about the outlook.
Eoin Fahy, chief economist at KBC Asset Management: said: “The process is still very volatile. Clearly, we shouldn’t overstate. It is good news that GDP is growing rather than falling but we still have to remain cautious because of the volatility."
The toll taken on the Irish economy by the financial crisis and the recession was laid bare in today's figures which showed that GDP fell by 7.4 per cent in the three months to September compared with the same period one year earlier.
The UK economy contracted by 5.1 per cent over the same period
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Irish economic output rose by 0.3 per cent between July and September compared to the second quarter, official figures showed today, leaving the UK as one of the few Western economies still mired in an economic downturn.
The technical definition of a recession is two or more consecutive quarters of falling gross domestic product – a key measure of economic strength. A number of country’s emerged from recession in the third quarter, including America, Japan, China, Germany and France.
However, Britain’s economy continued to shrink, falling by 0.3 per cent in the third quarter according to the most recent estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Although, new estimates out next week are expected to show a more modest contraction in the third quarter, analysts are not forecasting that the UK exited recession.
Last week, Alistair Darling outlined measures to return Britain to health and cut its £178 billion deficit in the Pre-Budget Report ahead of a general election next year.
Despite Ireland’s upbeat data, analysts were cautious about the outlook.
Eoin Fahy, chief economist at KBC Asset Management: said: “The process is still very volatile. Clearly, we shouldn’t overstate. It is good news that GDP is growing rather than falling but we still have to remain cautious because of the volatility."
The toll taken on the Irish economy by the financial crisis and the recession was laid bare in today's figures which showed that GDP fell by 7.4 per cent in the three months to September compared with the same period one year earlier.
The UK economy contracted by 5.1 per cent over the same period
More from ze times
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