The United States economy began growing again in the third quarter of the year, according to new official figures. The economy grew by 0.9%, an annual rate of 3.5% which is the first sign of improvement in more than a year.

Reporter:
Andrew Walker

Click to hear the report: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2009/10/091030_witn_us_economy_page.shtml

Figures suggest the recession in the US is over and a recovery underway. Spending by consumers increased for most types of goods and services, including cars. Business investment also rose for the first time in two years. But there are concerns that this improvement is too dependent on government spending, such assubsidies to replace old cars. Certainly the US Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, was not ready to claim victory in tackling the recession.

Tim Geithner: ‘This is just a beginning. Unemployment remainsunacceptably high. For every person out of work, for every familyfacing foreclosure, for every small business facing a credit crunch, the recession remains alive and acute‘.

Among the other leading developed economies, France, Germany and Japan returned to economic growth three months earlier than the US, though the downturn was deeper in Germany and Japan. Britain is the only other major economy to report its performance for the third quarter. Unlike the US, Britain showed a continued decline. The global picture is thus one of a widening recovery. But it has not reached everywhere and it is not particularly strong.

Vocabulary

a recovery underway: the process of getting the economy back to its previous healthy condition has begun

consumers: people who buy goods

dependent: reliant on the actions of others

subsidies: money given (usually by the government) to help to pay for something

claim victory: declare or tell everyone that he has been successful

tackling the recession: dealing with and trying to find a solution to the economic

difficulties of the country: unacceptably high

too great to be accepted or approved of: facing foreclosure

dealing with the prospect of losing their houses because they: cannot afford to pay back the loan the bank gave them to buy it

remains alive and acute: is still happening and is still extreme and causing lots of problems for people

a continued decline: still getting worse, not improving