London – Bank of England on Wednesday given the gloomy outlook for the British economy as cut its growth outlook and said inflation in the short term will be higher than expected previously.
Weak growth and high inflation “is painful for each participant in our society” and will continue to hurt disposable income in the short term, Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, said as he presented a report of the Central Bank’s quarterly inflation. “The path of recovery is likely to be slow and uncertain,” he said, adding that for Great Britain of “the greatest risk to recovery stems of the euro area.”
The Bank of England lowered its average growth forecast for the economy this year to around 0.8% of the 1.2 percent, he forecast earlier. Inflation, which is currently at 3.5 per cent, is likely to remain above the 2% target until the middle of next year. The Bank has forecast in February that inflation will refuse to level later this year.Britain, which is a member of the European Union, but has not adopted the euro fell back into recession since the beginning of this year. The economy is struggling, because the increasing consumer prices curbed household expenditure, bank loans continue to be tight and a decline in demand for goods from the euro-zone, Great Britain, the main export market.
Pound against the euro and the dollar fell on Wednesday, but recently an increase against the euro put additional strain on the industry of Great Britain exports by making goods more expensive. Some investors have looked to the pound, as a more secure investment option as the economic situation in the euro area deteriorated.Mr King said the Bank of England continues to face “a difficult choice between helping the economy recover or limiting inflation, the determination of the interest rate in and the decision to add to the package of fiscal incentives