The UK economy emerged from its "double dip" recession in Q3, posting much better than expected GDP growth of 1% over the previous quarter. So everything in the garden's lovely now, right? Well, no, actually. If you're determined to be pessimistic, there are now two things for you to worry about. Choose your poison!
First, since much of the expansion in the latest quarter was directly attributable to the impact of the London Olympic Games, the economy is bound to come to a screeching halt now that the Games are receding into the past: bring on the triple dip! Unconvinced? Well how about this alternative scenario: if the economy really is getting its groove back, as George Osborne would certainly like to believe, then the UK must be in for a fearsome bout of inflation because of all that QE-created money sloshing about the place.
The simple fact is that in one quarter, the UK economy has recouped all of the loss in GDP sustained during the much-hyped double dip. That should be cause for celebration, but you'd never know it from most of the media commentary, or from the reaction of trade bodies like the British Chambers of Commerce. A small cheer, then, for Iain Martin over at the Telegraph website, for trying to see the brighter side of the situation. However, I fear it's going to take a lot more good news to dispel the economic pessimism that has become so pervasive over the last few months, not just in the UK but throughout the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment