UK economy shrinks 1.9% - the fastest rate for 30 years

The news was reported in all newspapers and other media. In BBC news they used a graph showing the GDP growth since the 1990. It was saying that the UK economy shrank 1.9% in the first three months of 2009. This is much worse than predicted and it is the worst 3-month drop since the third quarter of 1979. Then the article continues by briefly explaining what GDP means. According to the Office of National Security (ONS) the economy is still in deep depression and there is ‘weakness to come’. However it is not going to be as bad as now. Those are the worst six month figures since the ONS started publishing the statistics. The chief secretary to the Treasury Yvette Cooper said that they believe the economy will start to recover. The article uses lots of quotes by different people such as economists and other experts. In general they think that the figures and predictions made earlier were too optimistic and there still will be a decline of the UK economy throughout 2009 but not as big as the first quarter.
The article in The Sunday Express was much shorter compared to BBC news. They provided information but almost without any quotes and analysis. However, James Hughes, chief investment officer of Black Swan Capital said for Express.co.uk that ‘there is still pain to come’. He also said that the later stages of the crisis will be characterised by rapidly increasing inflation and further weakening of the sterling.
In the beginning of their article the Guardian explained about the 1.9% decrease and that it is the worst for the past 30 years, but they emphasised on the fact that now there are doubts about Alistair Darling’s budget and the Conservatives were quick to launch an attack against him. There were included interviews with analysts and economists saying that Darling was far too optimistic and that he will need to borrow 175bn pounds this year. The Guardian as well used the interview with James Hughes. The article continued with further analysis and predictions. The IMF, for example, is on the same opinion as Darling that the UK economy will suffer less than other countries, but there will be recession for at least one more year.
Bloomberg and the FT reported the news using more data and numbers and analyzed the situation deeper. They included figures about the unemployment rate and the budget deficit. The FT compared UK’s economic condition to other countries and the predictions show that the UK’s GDP decrease in the following 2 years will be close to the average of all advanced countries and slower compared to Germany and Japan. Bloomberg also analysed the situation for the European economy as a whole and it doesn’t look good for other countries as well. The best that can be said is that the rate of economic decline may slow down in the following months. However the situation doesn’t look good for the UK with increasing deficit, rising inflation and unemployment and weakening of the pound. In order for the economy to get better, consumers should become more confident again, however this will take time and resources.