The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said on Wednesday that the nation’s economy is on pace to contract less than anticipated this year. And avoid the two consecutive quarters of negative growth that signify a technical recession. – uk
The more optimistic perspective coincided with recent improvements in consumer confidence statistics and purchasing managers’ index (PMI) surveys, both of which are indicators of Britain’s economy.
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) predicted that despite higher activity at the end of 2022. The GDP would shrink by 0.3% this year. Which was less than its earlier prediction of a 1.3% loss.
After seeing zero growth in the last quarter of 2022. The economy narrowly escaped entering a recession, according to official figures. On Friday, January’s figures are expected to be released.
The GDP is anticipated to contract by 0.3 percent in the 1st quarter of 2023, expand by zero in the 2nd. And then increase by 0.2 percent in each of the 3rd & 4th quarters.
Economists previous month, who predicted that the GDP would shrink by 0.4% during the 1st & 2nd quarters & then by 0.1% in the 3rd quarter. While the Bank of England (BoE) forecast a quarter-percent decline for 2024 previous month. The BCC anticipates a 0.6% growth in the GDP in 2019.
Alex Veitch, director of policy at the British Chambers of Commerce “BCC”, Stated that. Despite the higher revisions, businesses still face a challenging year due to challenges with employee shortages, rising taxes, and energy costs.
UK’s inflation decreased to 10.1 percent in Jan, easing away from the 11.1 percent peak it achieved in October 2022. But still more than 5 times the BoE’s 2 percent objective.
The BCC predicts that the BoE will raise interest rates by a quarter point at the end of the year. Bringing them to 4.25%, and then lower them to 3.5% by late 2024.