The divergence of fate between Britain and the developing nations.

Many developing economies are heavily reliant on the manufacturing industry and several commodities. Thus, when there was a dearth of global demand in 2009, they were heavily hit. Not only did demand sharply drop but the prices also followed a similar fate. Prices have been volatile, adding to the huge amount of uncertainty.

There has also been a decline in remittances sent to developing nations. The World Bank predicts that remittances have fallen by up to 10% in 2009.

However, many of these manufacturing, export based economies have recovered quicker than the likes of Britain. For example, Germany, although not a developing nation, recorded quarters of growth far before Britain did.

This can be attributed to two reasons. First, it must be noted that the average Briton is in far more debt than anywhere else. Thus, when hit by a recession, unlike Germany, we were unable to simply spend our way out of a storm. This is precisely why it is of utmost importance that in times of boom we save up, to act as a cushion for times of slump.

Secondly, this crises was a financial one. Britain is heavily reliant on the financial sector - in fact, 7% of our GDP growth comes from our financial sector. Thus, it comes as no surprise that we were heavily hit.