The U.K. "surprised"with a 6th straight quarter of contraction. George Buckley of Deutsche Bank via the Telegraph with the details:
"The worst thing is that every single component of GDP that was published did not rise. It's a bad number. It's the first time that we have seen a six straight quarters of contracting GDP - this is akin to the peak to trough we saw in the 1980s."
"It raises the possibility they (Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee) will have to do more on QE. This will surprise the MPC. This means you've got more spare capacity. It means inflation will be pulled down more."
Source: Stats.Gov.UK
No surprise to those of us who live in the UK!
ReplyDeleteIf you look at British credit statistics (http://www.creditaction.org.uk/debt-statistics/2009/october-2009.html), you'll see that the average British household has "£21,355 [in unsecured debt] if the average is based on the number of households who actually have some form of unsecured loan." The average wage here is perhaps £20-25,000. As more people lose their jobs, more are overwhelmed by their debt.
We're so grateful that we didn't get suckered into using credit.