The British Chambers of Commerce, BBC, has expressed concerns that recession looms in the United Kingdom, Uk, in the next six to nine months, as firms face a difficult and risky climate .It says in its latest forecast that Uk growth will be Slightly negative or zero in the next two or three quarters, especially if interest rates are not cut soon.
It also predicted that UK unemployment will rise by between 250,000 and 300,000 in the next 18 months to two years,which could take the jobless total to more than two million for the first time since Labour came to power in 1997. ” Over the next two or three quarters, we expect UK’s gross domestic product growth to be slightly negative or zero, satisfying the conditions of technical recession. But the bigger danger of a major UK recession can and must be prevented,
” Our central scenario envisages that UK bank rate would be cut to 4.75 per cent in the fourth quarer of 2008, followed by an additional cut to 4.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2009. But if the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee decides not to cut rates in the next three to six nonths, growth prospects would be worse. David Frost says.
David Frost said the ” full impact of going into a major recession as we did in the early 1990s could be avoided now.” Frost added that the UK needed ” to get back to a path of steady growth” as nobody wanted to experience the major dislocation and major problems emerging from a deep recession”.