Is the recession really "officially" over?

When I first heard that I said to myself that I will believe it when I see it - well I may be seeing the first signs!

I have been reading many reports lately about how retailers such as Tescos, Homebase and mobile phone companies (well - Apple!) have seen a dramatic increase in sales and profit. Then today I see an article announcing the gain the British pound has against the Dollar and the Euro!

Reports show that today the Dollar has risen by 0.5% making the rate 1.6544 and the Euro by 0.7% making 1.1775.

Ok so it's still pretty shocking and I don't think it's going to make us Brits suddenly be done with the garden parties and off to the plane - but it's a start. It's better than nothing - that's what I say.

With the economy picking up let's hope that more job vacancies are on their way and Britain can begin to develop normality once again!

amen to that!

Don't want to sound too sceptical, but Tesco are pretty much always going to be OK. People are always going to need to eat...

nard1 I agree with theoretic chains like Tesco will always be ok as we will always need food etc won't we? As for the Apple sales rising!? People are obviously not cutting back in their spending on the latest gadgets are they hehe!

It is good news about the £ though! Lets hope its a sign of things to come and that things get better from here on in!

I don't think anyone I know is holidaying this summer! We are all going to have a series of garden parties and trips to the beach instead lol! It’s all we can afford so better all round really! Everything just seems to be such a struggle right now!

These days recessions are brought on by the media headlines, warning of recession, and people losing jobs etc, to the extent that people are scared to go out and spend money. Now that recession stories are 'old', and getting less column inches, people are slowly going back to their normal spending habits

But to answer your question, technically a recession is the shrinking of the economy, therefore when we see a quarter of positive growth, then i think the recession is 'officially' over