Week in pictures

Britain officially entered recession for the first time since 1991, after the economy shrank at the fastest pace for nearly 30 years in the fourth quarter. The UK economy contracted by a worse-than-expected 1.5% between October and December from the previous three months, beating the declines seen during the 1990s recession Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP

Shares in high street banks crashed this week. Barclays lost a quarter of its stockmarket value last Friday and fell a further 10% on Wednesday. Lloyds Banking Group has plunged to a market value of £6bn. Royal Bank of Scotland, which unsettled the stockmarket after admitting on Monday it will make a record-breaking £28bn loss, has lost 70% to slump to be valued at less than £5bn Photograph: Murdo Macleod

Sterling slumped to its lowest level against the dollar for nearly a quarter of a century. The pound fell as low as €1.362 pressured by concerns over the banking bail-out and a wave of grim economic news Photograph: David Aubrey/Corbis

Unemployment climbed closer to 2 million, bringing the total to the highest level since September 1997. As news emerged of hundreds more job cuts in the manufacturing and retail sectors, figures showed that the number of people out of work in the three months to November jumped by 131,000 to a total of 1.923 million – a rate of 6.1% Photograph: David Levene

With many manufacturers on extended Christmas shutdown, the number of cars rolling off UK production lines in December fell 47.5% to just 53,823. Meanwhile, Italian carmaker Fiat is to take a 35% stake in cash-strapped US giant Chrysler as part of a transatlantic alliance between the two manufacturers Photograph: Dave Chidley/The Canadian Press/PA

Sony said it would suffer far bigger losses than anticipated this year in a dramatic decline in fortunes that underlines the struggle facing major Japanese exporters. The consumer electronics firm said it expected an operating loss - its first for 14 years - of £2.08bn by the end of March Photograph: Kim Kyung-hoon/Reuters

But some companies are benefiting from the recession. Morrisons enjoyed the best Christmas among Britain's top four supermarkets, with sales up 8.2% Photograph: Jason Alden/Landov/PA

EasyJet said business travellers and holidaymakers were switching to its services in the downturn as it reported strong passenger growth in the final quarter of last year Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

British Gas is cutting its gas prices by 10% - the first major energy company to announce a price reduction since 2007. The cut will take effect on 19 February and benefit more than 7.5m homes on British Gas's standard tariff Photograph: Linda Nylind

JD Wetherspoon reported a surge in sales after the pub chain slashed the price of a pint of beer to 99p. Wetherspoon announced it was turning the clock back to 1989, the last time draught beer was available for less than £1 Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images