The UK Economy Finally Hits Pre-Recession Standards After Six Years

The International Monetary Fund (referred to commonly as the IMF) has recently disclosed information that suggests Britain may have the fastest growing economy out of any sizeable developed country. Upgrading its forecast for UK growth for the fourth time in a row, the latest prediction of 3.2% this year and 2.7% in 2015 would effectively define Britain as the fastest growing advanced economy in the world this year.

The International Monetary Fund (referred to commonly as the IMF) has recently disclosed information that suggests Britain may have the fastest growing economy out of any sizeable developed country. Upgrading its forecast for UK growth for the fourth time in a row, the latest prediction of 3.2% this year and 2.7% in 2015 would effectively define Britain as the fastest growing advanced economy in the world this year.

The revision of an upward 0.4 percentage points for 2014, and 0.2 for 2015 was the largest of any major western country for either year, suggesting that Britain will be expected to grow faster than Germany, France, Canada, and even the United States (which does not say much considering America has implemented all sorts of job killing regulations and has the highest corporate tax rate in the world), leading Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury to comment that Britain has finally stepped onto ‘the fast lane of recovery’.

Surpassing the Pre-recession Peak

Apparently eager to show just how successful it can be, the economy in the UK grew 0.8% during the second quarter, boosting it back to a space above the levels that were seen in the first quarter of 2008, before the initial financial crisis, which shoved Britain’s economy into a deep and spiraling recession, began. After the longest recession in decades, the office for national statistics has announced that the economy is now 0.2% bigger than it was before the crisis started. Some people though believe that is not that impressive.

If every country is doing poorly and your country just happens to be doing better than they are that should not mean that you should start uncorking the champagne bottles.

In reaction to the decent figures, many figures within Britain commented on the news, describing it as encouraging for the future of the UK and announcing that the boost was down to the hard work and dedication of the British people. However, the shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, noted that England still has a long way to go before it really sees a true recovery. With gross domestic product per person not on track to recover for another three years, and many people still struggling with lower living standards, he argued that we certainly cannot consider the UK economy to be ‘fixed’.

Statistics have shown that the British have the services sector to thank for the increase, which accounted for three quarters of the total output this year, whilst other key sectors, including manufacturing, industrial production, and construction have yet to overcome the levels that were reached in 2008.

Cautious Sunny News

Although it has been regarded as enlightening news for the British economy, the statistics have been generally muted by the knowledge that this milestone reminds British people that it has taken six whole years just to regain the economic stability the country had before the financial crisis began. Other countries managed to recover from the output lost to the crisis much earlier than the United Kingdom, with Germany regaining its peak in 2010, then France and America catching up a year later.

It seems that although the British economy may be on the rise, economists are still cautious about what this could mean for the future of the UK, suggesting that no-one will quite be able to forget the forces that continue to weigh them down. This could be high taxes, job killing regulations, socialized health care, and so on. Britain may have won an integral economic battle, but the war is still raging.