There is much to hope in the financial statuses of the world’s richest countries. After a devastating dip of almost five percent in its economy last year, Germany is back on the saddle and posted very good statistics to date. In fact, the European story right now is Germany and the rest of Europe. Deutsch sales are up by almost four percent compared to the sales made in May and the projection is for it to become more in the coming months. By computation, Germany’s GDP has growth to an annual rate of five percent, almost double that of the United Kingdom.
Germany’s neighbors are not faring the same way. France is in a slump, going down by a single percent in June. What is killing them is the drop of car production this year. There are positive projections though in the coming months to the tune of 0.4%. Not much but still a most welcome one.
The downfall of the country’s construction business has heavily affected Spain’s economy this year. Recession in 2008 and a tiny peek above troubled waters early this year is not yet a sign of a bright future. However, a tiny speck of sunshine is expected to shine on the shores of Spain with an expected growth of 0.1% early this year. Hoping the ascent will continue.
The United Kingdom is also in dire straits, and this was confirmed by the announcement made by the governor of the bank of England describing “choppy waters” ahead for Great Britain. The government is already making cutbacks on its expenses at it prepares to buckle up on the expected rough ride ahead. The expectation though is a positive one, projecting spurts of growth this year but it will really be very slow and even hampered by different financial debacles. A double-dip recession is expected so the government is really setting up measures for more belt-tightening in the next five years.
Confusing signals in the opposite sides of the market make business in the United Kingdom an unsure venture. Unemployment is being curbed by the government and is being kept on a minimum. However, the cuts on government spending will likely result in lay offs on public jobs. Low level lending will pose as a serious issue in the coming years because this will certainly affect the private business sector. Repossession of houses have remained relatively low because of very low interest rates but at the same time house rates have also remained at the bottom, making the real estate industry not as lucrative as before.
The United States is also not faring well. Unemployment rate is still at its peak with no immediate hope in sight. However, US economy is slowly on the rise and it pegged an increase of 2.4% in the last three months.
Comments on this entry are closed.