RMB: GETTING READY FOR THE ‘REDBACK’
Fast-paced developments in China and overseas are bolstering the renminbi’s international expansion.
The United Kingdom
The United Kingdom Country Report: GDP data and GDP forecasts; economic, financial and trade information; the best banks in The United Kingdom; country and population overview
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Gross Domestic Product - GDP
US$ 2.453 trillion (2011 estimate)
GDP (Purchasing Power Parity)
2.309 trillion of International dollars (2011 estimate)
Real GDP growth
| 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| 2.5% | 2.1% | 2.8% | 3% | 2.2% | 2.8% | 2.7% | -1.1% |
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012* | ||||
| -4.4% | 2.1% | 0.7% | 0.8% |
*Estimate
GDP per capita - current prices
US$ 38,891 (2007 estimate)
GDP per capita - PPP
$36,605 International Dollars (2007 estimate)
GDP (PPP) - share of world total
| 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2010 | 2015** |
| 4.29% | 4.11% | 3.6% | 2.95% | 2.65% |
**Forecast
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GDP - composition by sector
(Data released on February 2012)
- agriculture: 0.7%
- industry: 21.6%
- services: 77.7% (2011 estimate)
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Gross domestic expenditure on R&D; (% of GDP)
1.77% (2010)
(Data released on March 2012)
Inflation
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012* |
| 2.1%(2008) | 3.3% | 4.5% | 2.4% |
*Estimate
Unemployment rate
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012* |
| 7.5% | 7.9% | 8%(2009) | 8.3% |
*Estimate
Household saving rates
6.3% (Gross saving; 2012 forecast)
(Data released on December 2011)
Public debt (General government gross debt as a % of GDP)
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012* |
| 52.5% | 68.4% | 75.1% | 82.5% | 88.4% |
*Estimate
Public deficit (General government net lending/borrowing as a % of GDP)
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011* | 2012** |
| -4.9% | -10.4% | -9.9% | -8.7% | -8% |
*Estimate **Forecast
Government bond ratings
Standard & Poor's: AAA
Moody's rating: Aaa
Moody's outlook: NEG
(Foreign Currency Government Bond Ratings; Data last updated Dec 2011 and Nov 2012)
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Market value of publicly traded shares
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
| US$2.796 trillion | US$3.107 trillion | US$1.202 trillion |
Largest companies in The United Kingdom
BAE Systems (Aerospace and defense), Rolls-Royce (Aerospace and defense), International Airlines (Airline), Burberry Group (Apparel/Accessories), Next (Apparel/Footwear Retail), Delphi Automotive (Auto & Truck Parts), GKN (Auto & Truck Parts), SABMiller (Beverages), Diageo (Beverages), British Sky Broadcasting (Broadcasting & Cable), Thomas Cook Group (Business & Personal Services), Aggreko (Business & Personal Services), Capita Group (Business & Personal Services), Bunzl (Business & Personal Services), Dixons Retail (Computer & Electronics Retail), Smiths Group (Conglomerates), Balfour Beatty (Construction Service), Rexam (Containers & Packaging), Marks & Spencer (Department Stores), Home Retail Group (Department Stores), Johnson Matthey (Diversified Chemicals), Rio Tinto (Diversified Metals & Mining), Anglo American (Diversified Metals & Mining), Eurasian Natural Resources (Diversified Metals & Mining), Vedanta Resources (Diversified Metals & Mining), Antofagasta (Diversified Metals & Mining), Kazakhmys (Diversified Metals & Mining), United Utilities (Diversified Utilities), Severn Trent (Diversified Utilities), SSE (Electric Utilities), Drax Group (Electric Utilities), Associated British Foods (Food Processing), Tesco (Food Retail), Wm Morrison Supermarkets (Food Retail), J Sainsbury (Food Retail), Kingfisher (Home Improvement Retail), Travis Perkins (Home Improvement Retail), InterContinental Hotels (Hotels & Motels), Reckitt Benckiser Group (Household/Personal Care), Willis Group Holdings (Insurance Brokers), Old Mutual (Investment services), Investec (Investment services), Resolution (Investment services), Schroders (Investment services), ICAP (Investment services), London Stock Exchange (Investment services), Evraz Group (Iron & Steel), Prudential (Life & Health Insurance), Legal & General Group (Life & Health Insurance), Aviva (Life & Health Insurance), Standard Life (Life & Health Insurance), Phoenix Group Holdings (Life & Health Insurance), HSBC Holdings (Major Banks), Barclays (Major Banks), Standard Chartered (Major Banks), Royal Bank of Scotland (Major Banks), Lloyds Banking Group (Major Banks), Smith & Nephew (Medical Equipment & Supplies), National Grid (Natural Gas Utilities), Centrica (Natural Gas Utilities), BP (Oil & Gas Operations), BG Group (Oil & Gas Operations), Tullow Oil (Oil & Gas Operations), Essar Energy (Oil & Gas Operations), Cairn Energy (Oil & Gas Operations), Ensco (Oil Services & Equipment), Petrofac (Oil Services & Equipment), Subsea 7 (Oil Services & Equipment), Wood Group (Oil Services & Equipment), AMEC (Oil Services & Equipment), Weir Group (Other Industrial Equipment), FirstGroup (Other Transportation), Mondi (Paper & Paper Products), GlaxoSmithKline (Pharmaceuticals), AstraZeneca (Pharmaceuticals), Reed Elsevier (Printing & Publishing), Pearson (Printing & Publishing), RSA Insurance Group (Property & Casualty Insurance), Land Securities Group (Real Estate), British Land (Real Estate), Hammerson (Real Estate), Songbird Estates (Real Estate), Compass Group (Restaurants), G4S (Security Systems), ARM Holdings (Semiconductors), Misys (Software & Programming), Vodafone (Telecommunications Services), BT Group (Telecommunications Services), British American Tobacco (Tobacco), Imperial Tobacco Group (Tobacco) (2012)
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Current account balance
US$ -42.3 billion (2011 estimate)(After 2008)
Current account balance by percentage of GDP
-1.7% of GDP (2011 estimate)(2009)
Exports as percent of GDP(Exports of goods and services)
30.1% (2010)
(Data released on April 2012)
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Shares in world total merchandising export
2.59%(2007)
(Data were released in 2012 and refer to 2011)
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Shares in world total commercial services export
6.57% (2011)(2007)
(Data were released in 2012)
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Export commodities
manufactured goods, fuels, chemicals; food, beverages, tobacco
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Exports - major partners
Germany 11.6%, US 10.6%, Netherlands 8.4%, France 7.8%, Ireland 6.4%, Belgium 5.7% (2011)
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Imports - major partners
Germany 13.2%, China 8.7%, Netherlands 7.5%, US 6.1%, France 6%, Norway 5%, Belgium 5% (2011)
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FDI inflows
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | |
| US$71,140 million | US$50,604 million(2009) | US$53,949 million(2009) |
FDI outflows
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | |
| US$44,381 million | US$39,502 million | US$107,086 million |
Value of cross-border M&A;, by country of purchaser
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
| US$54,653 million | US$-3,546 million(2009) | US$-227 million(2009) | US$53,876 million |
Cross-border M&A; deals worth over $3 billion completed in 2010(Acquiring company, Acquired company, Country of the acquired company, Value of the deal)
Orange PLC, T-Mobile (UK) Ltd, United Kingdom, $8.5 billion
Friends Provident Holdings (UK) Ltd (FPH), AXA SA-Life Assurance Business,UK, United Kingdom, $4.1 billion
(for a monthly update on M&A; click here )
Cross-border M&A; deals worth over $3 billion completed in 2011(Acquiring company, Acquired company, Country of the acquired company, Value of the deal)
SABMiller PLC, Foster's Group Ltd, Australia, $10.8
BP PLC, Reliance Industries Ltd, India, $9 billion
Ensco PLC, Pride International Inc, United States, $7.3 billion
Chiron Holdings Inc, Kinetic Concepts Inc, United States, $5.1 billion
Rolls-Royce Group plc, Tognum AG, Germany, $4.7 billion
Volcan Investments Ltd, Cairn Energy PLC, United Kingdom, $4.5 billion
Rio Tinto PLC, Riversdale Mining Ltd, Australia, $3.9 billion
Unilever PLC, Alberto-Culver Co, United States, $3.8 billion
Vodafone Group PLC, Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, Hong Kong, China, $3.3 billion(2008 estimate)
(for a monthly update on M&A; click here )
Best countries for doing business World Bank/IFC Doing Business Project (Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business, from 1 - 185. A high ranking means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm.)
Overall ranking: 7 out of 185 countries(2009) (2013)
Subcategories:
Starting a business: 19 out of 185 countries(2009)
Enforcing Contracts: 21 out of 185 countries
Registering Property: 73 out of 185 countries
Getting credit: 1 out of 185 countries
Protecting investors: 10 out of 185 countries
Trading across border: 14 out of 185 countries
Paying Taxes: 16 out of 185 countries
Dealing with Construction Permits: 20 out of 185 countries
Getting Electricity: 62 out of 185 countries
Resolving Insolvency: 8 out of 185 countries
(2013)
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Global competitiveness ranking(ranking by country on a basis of 144, the first is the best)
8
(2012)
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Index of Economic FreedomWSJ and Heritage Foundation
Ranking: 14 Score: 74.1 (Mostly Free) (2009)
(100=totally free 0=totally repressed )
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Languages
English, Welsh (about 26% of the population of Wales), Scottish form of Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland)
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Religions
Christian (Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist) 71.6%, Muslim 2.7%, Hindu 1%, other 1.6%, unspecified or none 23.1% (2001 census)
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Total population
| 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2012* | 2017** |
| 56.33 million | 57.24 million | 58.89 million | 63.07 million | 65.2 million |
*Estimate **Forecast
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Urban population as % of total population
| 1960 | 1980 | 2000 | 2011 |
| 78.4% | 87.9% | 89.4% | 79.6% |
Inequality of wealth distribution (Gini index)
35.97 (1999)
(Data were released in 2011, 0=perfect equality, 100=absolute inequality)
Freedom House rating
Political Rights:1
Civil Liberties:1 (2011)
(1 represents the most free, 7 the least free)
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Total telephone subscribers as % of population
183.99% (2011)
(sum of fixed telephone lines and mobile cellular subscribers)
Internet users as % of total population
82% (Data were released in 2012 and refer to 2011)
Cost of living - Mercer index(ranking by city on a basis of 214; the 1st is the most expensive and the 214th is the least expensive)
London: 18th (2011)
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CO2 emissions(Metric tons of CO2 per capita)
7.6977 (Data were released in 2012 and refer to 2009)
