Look to America for lessons in how our economy can grow

SO, IN the end Britain was not spared. After several quarters which a widely predicted recession failed into materialise, finally the economy has slumped to the official definition: two quarters of negative growth.

- Ross Clark

It shouldn't really come as a surprise. A sharp rise in interest rates has increased mortgage repayments for millions of homeowners as well as added to the costs of business. 

Pubs and restaurants have been noticeably quiet, nor were shops exactly full during the vital pre-Christmas period.

We can comfort ourselves in that this looks like being a short and shallow recession very different from 2008-09 when the economy contracted by six percent and took five years to recover. Very different, too, from the brief but remarkably deep plunge of 20 percent in a single quarter during the pandemic. Business confidence appears to be building, at least in the services sector.

Britain Nor Yesterday, it was announced Japan fell into recession in the second half of last year. Germany was already in recession, with the economy slumping by 0.3 per cent over 2023. The UK, by contrast, did just about manage to grow over the course of the year, albeit by a feeble 0.1 per cent. Of course, whenever economic performance is in the news, the Brexit debate is never far away.