Foreign Recovery Could Be a Tonic for UK's Sick Economy; ECONOMICS ANALYSIS

Beginning of article

Byline: Hugo Duncan

THE Government has long boasted that Britain is better placed to deal with the global recession than other major nations.

That claim is looking more and more hollow by the day.

Official figures last week showed the UK economy shrank another 0.4% in the third quarter of the year ( July, August and September) and has now been in recession for the last 18 months.

By contrast, France, Germany and Japan started growing again in April, and figures this week are expected to show the US returned to growth in July after 12 months of decline.

The story looks set to be the same for the whole of Europe when it publishes its figures next month.

Economists are forecasting growth of between 3% and 4% in the US …