This week’s big economic and bad election news is that we are, or certainly have been, officially in a recession. You may not have thought you were, or you may have thought you have been for some time, as we and its effects are all different. It’s official because the economy has become smaller, based on the various supposedly-scientific criteria used by economists, for three lots of three months in a row. And interestingly, it’s been at that stage the investments have started to recover, as once we’re in, the markets look ahead to when we’ll be out, as recovery and good times follow as sure as sunshine sometimes and eventually follows rain. The compounding problem is that being told you’re recessed makes you (whatever your role in the economy) feel recessed, so you spend less, lay people off if you’re an employer or stop spending on the frivolous stuff which makes it all go round. So, Positive Mental and Spending Attitude, folks. We can beat this. And it’s an election year…
“UK inflation falls to lowest level since 2022”
We have been or are, depending on your point of view or choice of statistics, in the midst of a recession. The faint glimmer at the end of a long tunnel is that the economy apparently grew in January, although 0.2% isn’t exactly storming ahead.