UK in recession as economy slides

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk The UK is now in recession for the first time since 1991, official government figures have confirmed. Gross domestic product fell by 1.5% in the last three months of 2008 after a 0.6% drop in the previous quarter. Bleak retail sales and accelerating unemployment have hit the UK It represents the biggest quarter-on-quarter decline since 1980, and a 1.8% fall on the same quarter a year ago. The worse-than-expected contraction sent sterling to a 24-year low against the dollar, with one pound buying $1.355. Meanwhile the FTSE 100 index fell almost 2%, below 4,000 points. RECORD QUARTERS Biggest post-war quarterly decline was -2.6% in Q2 1958 Largest drop in one quarter over previous year was -4.1% in Q4 1980 Worst fall in one quarter on previous year in 1990s recession was -2.2% in Q2 1991 Recession tracker: GDP in graphics How quickly could the UK recover? How to cope during the recession