OECD says Britain’s recovery is lagging behind other states
THE world’s leading industrial countries emerged from recession in the three months to September – but Britain’s recovery is lagging behind, a leading economic body said yesterday.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said its 30 member states averaged growth of 0.8 per cent in the quarter, while the UK’s economy contracted by 0.4 per cent.
France, Germany, Italy and the US all grew in the period, and Japan put in the best performance with growth of 1.2 per cent, according to early GDP estimates.
The figures, which paint Britain as the “sick man” man of the OECD, come ahead of tomorrow’s first revision of UK output for the quarter ending September, which showed Britain shrunk for a sixth quarter in a row.
Last week the OECD also warned that the scourge of mass unemployment could affect Britain, even as the economy recovers.
It said the UK’s jobless rate could surge to 9.5 per cent within the next two years, with unemployment peaking in 2011. The UK’s unemployed numbered some 2.46m between July and September.