It now appears that the global economy is recovering at a much faster pace than many expected it would. However it appears that making up the rear, and probably by a distance, will be the UK economy that just can’t seem to shake itself out of the doldrums.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) the UK economy is even liable to contact by 4.7% this year, a scenario which is much worse than predicted by the UK Treasury who called the rate of decline at 3.5% decline.

The OECD predicts that both the US and the Eurozone to officially call and end top their recessions by the end of the third quarter, encouraged by a series of positive financial indicators in recent months.

.Meanwhile UK financial analysts explain that the UK stodgy economy has been brought about by the fall in the growth for 2009, which has been driven entirely driven by to terribly negative downturns in fourth-quarter 2008 and first-quarter 2009, while forecasts for the UK in the third and fourth quarters of 2009 are, in fact, slightly better than were originally predicted. However they are not sufficient to pull the UK out of the recession.

Meanwhile UK Chancellor, Alastair Darling, forever thinking one move ahead, fears that Germany and France, having returned to a position of economic growth, will begin to reduce their stimulus spending.

Darling is determined to push the G20 nations to take whatever measures necessary to combat unemployment. He expects them to take similar measures to Britain’s £5 billion jobs package, as he is concerned that if the stimulus package is pulled away too soon, the return to growth might fizzle out.

Chancellor Darling is due to attend a meeting of G20 finance ministers in London on Friday and Saturday, prior to a global recovery debate to be held in Pittsburgh in three weeks, where he and Prime Minister Gordon Brown will be in attendance

Recent reports have shown that the service sector expanded at a faster rate in August than expected, adding further hope that the economy is recovering, albeit slowly.

This piece of positive news was offset by a warning from the financially embattled West Yorkshire Welcome Financial Services that the company may have to shed a further 500 jobs as it continues its battle for survival.

Yorkshire based Cattles, who own the company, are burdened by debts of over £2.4 billion and are under scrutiny due to accounting irregularities, have announce plans to close 30 of its 180 Welcome branches as well as reducing the number of employees in their s sales and support teams.

Cattles have already closed its Welcome Car Finance car loans business cutting more than 1,000 jobs.

The company said it remains in negotiations with key creditors about a deal that would give it breathing space on the repayment of its debt

Deutsche Telekom have made no secret that they are interested in offloading their UK mobile phone unit T-Mobile UK, and have begun talks with the UK’s Vodafone, France Telecom, and Telefónica of Spain in hope of completing a rapid sale. One of the possibilities being discussed is a possible merger between T-Mobile UK and France Telecom’s Orange UK, a possibility suggested by Telecom. Representatives of Deutsche Telekom are seemingly hopeful that significant progress can be made by mid to late-October.

Electrical goods retailer DSG International were so anxious to withdraw from the Polish market that they sold off their interest there for a nominal €1, just three months after retreating from Hungary leaving a single Euro note there also. DSG have enjoyed considerably more success in the Nordic region however that is partially offsetting a continued weak performance in the UK and Ireland, where DSG operations Curries, PC World and Dixons electric goods retailing chains. Shares in DSG rose by 0.59 pence to 27.58 pence on the news.

Gains on London equity markets faded by the close on Thursday as falling oil and drug stocks offset gains for miners and financial stocks.

The FTSE 100 index ended a further 20.80 points lower at 4,796.75. Meanwhile the FTSE 250 made up for most of Wednesday’s reverses, rising 84.87 points to close on 8,604.80

The pound climbed to its highest level for a week on Thursday after a survey of the UK services sector raised some hopes that the country’s economy could return to growth in the third quarter.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6322
• Pound/Euro 1.1454
• Pound/Japanese Yen 151.1341
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.7338

On Wall Street, the markets continued to be relatively stable, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 11.86 points to close on 9292.53 while the NASDAQ Composite index rose a mere 5.94 points to close on 1973.01

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Tags: Alastair Darling, Banking, British Economy, British Pound, Cattles, Curries, Deutsche Telekom, Dixons, DSG, Economy, Employment, Financial News, financial recovery, France Telecom, FTSE, Global Economy, Gordon Brown, Money Markets, NASDAQ, OECD, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, PC World, Recession, T-Mobile UK, Telefónica, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, UK treasury, Unemployment, Vodafone, Wall Street