The Economy of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is situated on the British Isles in the north-west of Europe. The British Isles are made up of two large islands, Great Britain and Ireland, and about five thousand small islands. The United Kingdom consists of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Its total area is over 244,000 square kilometres. The population of the United Kingdom is about 60 million people. The capital of the country is London.

The U.K. is a highly developed industrial country. It is one of the largest producers of machinery, electronics, textile, clothing, aircraft and navigation equipment.

The British are known as a trading nation - importing, exporting, investing abroad and receiving foreign investment. The national economy is based on free markets. Britain's main trade partners are the USA, Germany, France, and the Netherlands.

British economists distinguish .primary, secondary and tertiary industries.

Primary industries exploit raw materials and include agriculture, fishing, mining, oil extraction and some others. Agriculture produces about 2 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It employs less than 2 per cent of the workforce. Agriculture is very efficient. British farms are big and highly mechanised.

Fishing supplies two-thirds of the fish needed for the country. This sector is also highly mechanised. But stocks have been decreased because of pollution and overfishing.

Great Britain has more energy resources than any other European country. Coal is one of them. But today most of the mines have been shut down. About 18.000 miners are unemployed. The most important energy resources are gas and oil. They are extracted from fields in the North Sea. Britain is now the world's sixth largest producer of oil.

The secondary industries are manufacturing and construction. The tertiary industries are service industries. At present manufacturing has gone down and the service industries have expanded. Tourism, transport and telecommunication are growing now. Financial services such as accountancy, insurance and banking are big business too. Britain is now the world's second largest service exporter (the first is the USA). The headquarters of the successful financial services sector are in the City of London. The City is one of the world's biggest financial centres. 25,000 people work there.

In the 1980s under the Conservative government a lot of state-owned companies were privatised. Among them were the automobile industry, the steel and shipbuilding industries, the defence industry, some bus companies. The telephones, railways and the national airlines were denationalized. The gas, electricity and water suppliers became private companies.

12. Выпишите из текста английские эквиваленты следующих слов и выражений:

Соединенное Королевство Великобритании и Северной Ирландии, Британские острова, высокоразвитая промышленная страна, основная отрасль промышленности (сырьевая промышленность), обрабатывающая промышленность, сфера услуг, сырье, сельское хозяйство, горная промышленность, добыча нефти, валовой внутренний продукт, рабочая сила, снабжает, загрязнение, безработные, бухгалтерское дело, страхование, главное управление, государственные компании, оборонная промышленность.

13. Ответьте на следующие вопросы:

1. Where is the United Kingdom located?

2. What is the British economy based on?

3. What industries do experts distinguish?

4. What is London's financial center?

5. What industries were privatised in the 1980s?

14. Напишите рассказ о Лондоне.