BCC warns of recession, rise in unemployment

18/08/2008

Recession - and large numbers of job losses - are near-inevitable in the UK, the the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has said.

The body predicts negative economic growth within six to nine months - and unemployment figures to rise by up to 300,000 over the next two years.

Moreover, inflation is set to increase to up to five per cent within the same period, the BCC's analysis suggests.

This would be a full three per cent above the Bank of England's own target rate.

"Over the next two or three quarters, we expect UK GDP growth to be slightly negative or zero, satisfying the conditions of technical recession," the BCC said in a statement.

"But the bigger danger of a major UK recession can and must be prevented."

Kevin Still, EuroDebt director, added: "The current forecasts reinforce the importance of planning ahead and reviewing the level of protection in place in the event of job loss and budgeting effectively as household expenditure continues to rise in excess of the predicted inflation levels, especially as these rises are not being reflected in take home pay at annual review time."

Tags; Job loss,

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