Recession ‘not foregone conclusion’

Published 10 Jan 2012

The Guardian
BCC predicts that growth will be flat this year, with one quarter of contraction, but says a full-blown recession is not inevitable if the government acts.
The UK economy is set to stagnate in the first quarter of the year but a "new recession is not a foregone conclusion", a business lobby group said on Tuesday.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said GDP is likely to be flat in the first half of the year, including one quarter of contraction, amid indications the "UK recovery is stalling".
Order book expectations at home and overseas are set to fall in the manufacturing sector, while unemployment will hit 2.77 million by the end of 2012, up from 2.64 million in the last official figures, the BCC added.
But John Longworth, BCC director general, said that while a slowdown in the eurozone is inevitable, Britain "need not suffer a similar fate".
"A new recession is not a foregone conclusion," he said. "However, action is needed urgently to tackle short-term stagnation and a lack of business confidence, damaged by the ongoing eurozone crisis."

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