Recession until end of 2009
The UK recession will be ‘deeper and longer’ than first predicted, according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). The CBI has revised its September economic forecast that the economy would grow by 0.3% next year, and has now predicted that it will instead contract by 1.7%. The business group has also forecast that the recession is likely to last until the end of 2009 and that unemployment will reach 2.9 million by 2010. CBI deputy director–general John Cridland said: “What is clear is that the short and shallow recession we had hoped for a matter of months ago is now likely to be deeper and longer lasting,” “Given the speed and force at which the downturn has hit the economy, we have reassessed and downgraded our expectations for UK economic g... »