Investment - Articles - Hunt says the UK will avoid a recession this year

 ‘’Jeremy Hunt wasted no chances in pulling the biggest rabbit from his hat, brandishing the forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility that the UK will swerve a recession this year. Things were already looking up, with consumer and business confidence rising, and spending proving much more resilient. The rebound in the huge services sector in February had already raised hopes that two back-to-back quarters of negative growth will be avoided and now that more pieces of the jigsaw are now in place a rosier picture is emerging.

 But given that the cost-of-living crisis is still proving painful, economic activity is still likely to be slow to power up and a period of stagflation not super-charged growth is still expected. The Chancellor is gearing up to deliver fresh incentives to loosen a tight labour market, spark greater productivity and bring in foreign investment but it’s going to still be a hard slog ahead.”