Every cloud has a silver lining, even in a Recession.

2009 is forecast to be a traumatic time with experts predicting that 1600 more shops will fold, following in the footsteps of Woolworths and MFI, which is a 20% increase on 2008. Competition out there will be fiercer than ever and in the inevitable price war that will follow only the strong will survive.

ASDA have kick started the year by slashing the prices of 1000 products to £1 so it will be interesting to see if this will provoke the likes of Tesco and Sainsburys to follow suit. In fact Tesco have already started their own price war by cutting the cost of petrol to its lowest level for 4 years. They are charging 82.9p a litre for unleaded and 94.9p a litre for diesel. Shell have already vowed to match this, and Total have cut their price on unleaded to 85.9p, so it will be interesting to see if Asda and Sainsburys will feel obliged to lower their fuel prices too.

JD Wetherspoon have also kicked off the New Year with some welcome cuts, Greene King IPA which, on average, costs £2.75 a pint has been reduced to just 99p! Not only that, bottles of San Miguel, the Spanish Nectar, will also be under £1 – how good is that?!

So the scene is set for what looks to be an interesting ride as a recession fuelled by greed results in tumbling prices, much to the relief of the many thousands of people who are struggling to make ends meet because of the weight of their unsecured debt.