New British Governemnt figures have confirmed that the UK is now officially in recession for the first time since 1991.
The confirmation was no surprise to most economists. The country's economy shrank by 1.2% in the final three months of last year, which was the worst performance for 28 years.
The news from Ireland's biggest trading partner is not good for Irish exporters, as it meant that sterling weakened further. The euro is now trading at almost 94.5p against the British currency.
Some economists now expect the UK economy to shrink by around 3% this year, while today's figures are also seen as increasing the chances of another half-point cut in interest rates by the Bank of England.
Britain's Office for National Statistics said that gross domestic product shrank by 1.5% in the fourth quarter of 2008 from the previous three-month period, when it also contracted.
The generally-used technical definition of a recession is two quarters running of negative economic growth.
