UK expansion to be slow in 2011, warn businesses
SLUGGISH growth will weigh down the UK economy this year, although it should spring back more strongly than previously expected in 2012, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) predicts in a fresh forecast published today.
The economy will expand by just 1.4 per cent this year, the BCC said, down from its previous forecast of 1.9 per cent.
However, the group revised up its 2012 forecast from 2.1 per cent to 2.3 per cent growth.
“The government is right to persevere with implementing its tough deficit-cutting plan and we expect the private sector to absorb these measures, given the right supportive policies in the budget,” added the BCC’s David Frost. “We must avoid heaping new regulatory burdens and business taxes on firms at all costs,” he said.