CBI says UK will avoid triple-dip recession
The UK will avoid a triple-dip recession in 2013, according to business lobby group the CBI, although growth will be lower.
The business lobby said this morning that the economy would expand by 0.3 per cent in the first quarter of the year, and stay between 0.3 and 0.4 per cent for the rest of the year.
This follows a contraction of 0.3 per cent in the last quarter of 2012.
Over the year as a whole, GDP will grow by one per cent, slightly below its previous forecast of 1.4 per cent, the CBI said. It kept unchanged its forecast for economic growth of two per cent in 2014.
“We are beginning to see the return of organic growth, with clear signs that firms offering the right products into the right markets are growing sales and expanding,” said CBI director-general John Cridland.
“Recent business surveys also give grounds for cautious optimism about our forward prospects.”