UK Economy Avoids Triple-Dip Recession

There's relief for the Chancellor as the first GDP estimate shows the economy grew by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2013.

英國國家統計局數據，今年第一季度英國國內生產總值環比增長0．31％，增幅高于市場普遍預期的0．1％，從而避免了在過去五年中出現第三次經濟衰退。增長的主要動力來自于英國服務業的復蘇表現以及北海石油、天然氣生產恢復正常。這是自2011年底以來，英國經濟增長率最高的一次。不少英國分析機構認為，政府和央行需要出臺更多刺激政策，以今年保持經濟增長。

The economy is growing again, this is good news, but how good? The chancellor says it's encouraging, it's a sign the economy's healing again. Is he right?

Well, we first went into recession back in 2008, and at a quite some speed, The following year, we get a recovery kicking in, a recovery of sorts, a kicking-in of sorts, it soon runs out of steam, and doesn't really get out of second year. By the end of 201, the economy, economic recovery is so feeble, bad weather pushes us back into a double dip. The shot in the arm for the Olympics was short-lived. The economy contracted in the last three months of last year.

Today, it grows by 0.3%. The big picture though, hardly suggests health. Not only is the British economy smaller today than it was 5 years ago, but this is the weakest recovery in recorded economic history. Britain's on the bottom here, the line in red, you should mean say, is 2.5%, smaller than it was before it entered recession.

France, Germany and the United States, they all went into recession in the same way. Almost as deep as we did. All three of them have bounced back more strongly than we have. That's a headache for the chancellor to explain.

He can, though, point to good news because there are a record number of people in work; go figure, unemployment hasn't risen or anything like the scale that had been feared. There are plenty of companies out there still making money. We've heard from one of them in this morning, a house builder, the stock market is looking more buoyant that it was.

But if you have managed to hold on to your job, the chances are, the average person is feeling worse off(惡化). What are these seemingly unpenetrable lines mean, they'll tell you that since 2009 for three years, uncounted pay has been rising at a slower pace than prices. Another headache for the chancellor, another reason the recovery is stuttering(結結巴巴).