Economic downturn worst in '60 years' 英財相稱英國經濟遭遇六十年來最低迷期

Alistair Darling has warned that Britain's economic downturn will be the worst in 60 years.

Alistair Darling says Britain is facing its worst economic crisis since the 1940s. The chancellor is warning the current downturn will hit harder and last longer than we expect. It's the government's grimmest assessment to date of the situation facing the British economy. Mr. Darling says conditions here and abroad are now arguably the worst they’ve been for 60 years.

In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, he also admitted ministers had failed to explain the problem to voters, and that they were understandably angry with Labors’ handling of the situation. His comments are likely to prove controversial. They are much more negative than those expressed publicly by Gordon Brown.

However, Mr. Darling's remarks come after somewhat bad economic news.

House prices are falling at their fastest rate in 18 years, leading to fears of a wave of repossessions in the upcoming months.

Mortgage lending has slowed dramatically due to the credit crunch. And evidence suggests that Britain could be poised to go into a recession in the near future. The most recent GDP figures show no economic growth in the second quarter of the year, while building firms and retailers have laid off thousands of staff in recent weeks. Amid fears, things will deteriorate even further.

參考中文翻譯：

Alistair Darling提出警告，英國經濟遭遇60年來最低迷期。

Alistair Darling說，英國經濟正面臨上世紀40年代以來最嚴峻的情況。該英國大臣提出警告，目前的經濟低迷將會比我們預期的更嚴重，持續時間更長。這是政府對當前英國經濟形勢的嚴酷評估。Mr. Darling 說，目前國內外的形勢都無可辯駁的是60年來最糟糕的狀況。

在英國衛報的采訪中，他同樣承認，政府官員沒有及時成功的對選民作出解釋，他們對工黨的處理方式不滿，這可以理解。但是他的言論卻引發爭議。他們比Gordon Brown在公開場合所表達的還要消極。

然而，Mr. Darling的評論來自一些列負面經濟消息之后。

房價以18年來的最快速度下滑，引發了對未來幾個月能否恢復的恐慌。

由于信用危機，抵押貸款急劇下降。有證據表明，英國不久就將進入蕭條期。最近的GDP統計數據表明，今年第二季度，英國的經濟沒有任何增長，房地產公司和零售商在最近的幾周裁員數千人。在極度恐慌中，形勢會進一步惡化。