Is the recession over?
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research's (NIESR) has declared that the economy has experienced its first quarterly growth of the year with a 0.2% rise from April to July 2009 compared to a 0.3% decline for the same period in 2008. Not since May 2008 has there been a growth of this sort.
Whilst the NIESR claim that the 'recession' ended in May, they stated that this should not be taken as being an economic recovery, "There may well be a period of stagnation now, with output rising in some months and falling in others; the end of the recession should not be confused with a return to normal economic conditions".
Manufacturing figures showed an output rise of 0.9% from June to July, the best in more than three years.
