Official recession ends – for a while

Measurements of recession change depending on the political and economic beliefs of the times. In the recent past in the UK, recessions have been measured by perceptions of ‘growth’ in national economic activity, so the second definition at the last link is the relevant one.

Of course, the government is very pleased to see today’s news that the UK is now growing again (0.1% in the last quarter – BBC report.) However, every set of statistical information has something called a margin for error which gives some allowance for inaccurate information and this puts this growth into perspective.

Even if we are growing again, the contraction in economic activity that has taken place over the past two years means we are growing again from a very much lower base than previously. You can blame that on the recession (rather perhaps than individual banks, central bankers or politicians) but, if you do, don’t forget to ask yourself what caused it.