§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when is his estimate of the beginning of the recession in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement on the relative timing of the onset of the recession in the United Kingdom and other OECD countries.
§ Mr. NelsonA recession is usually defined as a period of two or more successive quarters of falling output. Taking the first quarter in which output falls to be the onset of recession, following are the dates for the onset of the recessions in the United Kingdom and other OECD countries over the past two years.
Country Date of onset of recession United Kingdom 1990 Q3 United States 1990 Q3 Canada 1990 Q2 Australia 1990 Q2 Denmark 1990 Q4 Finland 1990 Q2 Germany 1991 Q2 Greece 1990 Q2 Sweden 1990 Q2 Switzerland 1991 Ql Source: OECD, CSO.