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Economy of the UK
The UK economy is made up (in descending order of size) of the economies of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Based on market exchange rates, the United Kingdom is today the fifth largest economy in the world and the second largest in Europe after Germany.
The Industrial Revolution started in the United Kingdom with an initial concentration on heavy industries such as shipbuilding, coal mining, steel production, and textiles. The empire created an overseas market for British products, allowing the UK to dominate international trade in the 19th century. However, as other nations industrialized, coupled with economic decline after two world wars, the United Kingdom began to lose its competitive advantage and heavy industry declined, by degrees, throughout the 20th century. Manufacturing remains a significant part of the economy, but accounted for only one-sixth of national output in 2003. The British motor industry is a significant part of this sector, although it has diminished with the collapse of the MG Rover Group and most of the industry is foreign owned. Civil and defense aircraft production is led by the United Kingdom's largest aerospace firm, BAE Systems, and the continental European firm EADS, the owner of Airbus. Rolls-Royce holds a major share of the global aerospace engines market. The chemical and pharmaceutical industry is strong in the UK, with the world's second and sixth largest pharmaceutical firms (GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca, respectively) being based in the UK.
The UK service sector, however, has grown substantially, and now makes up about 73% of GDP. The service sector is dominated by financial services, especially in banking and insurance. London is the world's largest financial centre with the London Stock Exchange, the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange, and the Lloyd's of London insurance market all based in the City of London. London is a major centre for international business and commerce and is the leader of the three "command centers" for the global economy (along with New York City and Tokyo). It has the largest concentration of foreign bank branches in the world. Many multinational companies that are not primarily UK-based have chosen to site their European or rest-of-world headquarters in London: an example is the US financial services firm Citigroup. The Scottish capital, Edinburgh, has one of the large financial centers of Europe and is the headquarters of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, one of the world's largest banks.
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Tourism is very important to the British economy. With over 27 million tourists arriving in 2004, the United Kingdom is ranked as the sixth major tourist destination in the world. London, by a considerable margin, is the most visited city in the world with 15.6 million visitors in 2006, after Bangkok (10.4 million visitors) and Paris (9.7 million).
The United Kingdom's agriculture sector accounts for only 0.9% of the country's GDP. The UK has a small coal reserve along with significant, yet continuously declining natural gas and oil reserves.
Government involvement throughout the economy is exercised by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who heads HM Treasury, but the Prime Minister is First Lord of the Treasury; the Chancellor of the Exchequer is the Second Lord of the Treasury. In recent years, the UK economy has been managed in accordance with principles of market liberalization and low taxation and regulation. Since 1997, the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, headed by the Governor of the Bank of England, has been responsible for setting interest rates at the level necessary to achieve the overall inflation target for the economy that is set by the Chancellor each year.
As of 2007, United Kingdom's government debt rose to 43.3% of GDP. The UK economy did not grow at all in the second quarter of 2008 and is forecast by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) to be in recession by the end of the year.
The currency of the UK is the pound sterling, represented by the symbol £. The Bank of England is the central bank, responsible for issuing currency. The UK chose not to join the euro at the currency's launch, and the British Prime Minister, "The Rt Hon" Gordon Brown MP, has ruled out membership for the foreseeable future, saying that the decision not to join had been right for Britain and for Europe. The government of former Prime Minister Tony Blair had pledged to hold a public referendum for deciding membership should be met "five economic tests". In 2005, more than half (55%) of the UK was against adopting the currency, while 30% was in favor.
Notes on the text
EADS (European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company) – Европейский аэрокосмический и оборонный концерн
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