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Tuesday, 27 November, 2001, 15:20 GMT
Economics guru warns on UK recession
news.bbc.co.uk
There is a one-in-10 chance of a recession in the UK, says the central bank
The threat of inflation in the UK is greater than the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee thinks, according to one of its nine influential members.
Sir Edward deems the risks of a recession very, very small...
The MPC's most recent forecast predicted that there was a one-in-10 chance of a recession in the UK.
"In broad terms, I still think that the probability of a recession in the UK is significantly less than 50%, but it's significantly higher than the projection here [in the MPC's recent inflation report]," Sushil Wadhwani told a parliamentary committee.
Mr Wadhwani's prediction was much gloomier than that of the Bank's governor, Sir Edward George.
"It's a very, very small change [of recession]," Sir Edward told the parliamentary committee.
So while economic growth in the UK is slowing down, the weakness is not expected to last long, agreed Sir Edward's deputy, Mervyn King. |
