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This is your 90-second Business News Update brought to you by
Interface Business Languages.
My name is DH.
Latest official figures showed that the UK recession has deepened
after GDP fell by 0.5 percent
in the last three months.
The contraction was much bigger than expected
and follows a 0.3 percent drop in the previous quarter.
The output of the economy is now 4.5 percent lower than before the
start of the financial crisis in 2008.
Despite this,
there was a slight increase in the rate of employment
with 181,000 jobs created in the past 3 months.
At the same time, inflation fell to 2.4 percent
down from 2.8 percent in the previous month,
easing the pressure on the cost of living.
The UK's trade deficit also fell to 2.7 billion pounds,
down from 4.1 billion pounds.
The international monetary fund has cut its growth forecast for Britain by more
than those for any other advanced economy,
and some analysts are anticipating the UK could lose its
AAA credit rating
if there is any relaxation of the government's austerity program.
On the markets
the FTSE 100 share index was down from
5627.1
to 5505.89
and sterling fell against the dollar from last week's high
of 1.5746 to 1.5402.
That was your 90-second business news update brought to you by
Interface Business Languages.
Join us again soon.