Britain's recession 'over already'

The UK could have already ended its economic downturn, according to Defaqto.

An economist at the financial research firm said today that it was ’pretty clear’ that output had bottomed out - but refused to rule out a further slump occurring in the near future.

The global credit crunch officially pushed Britain into recession - defined as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth - at the end of 2008.

Over the first three months of this year, output dropped by a further 1.9%, the worst quarterly result for the UK for 30 years.

However, fiscal stimulus, low interest rates and quantitative easing - along with the weaker pound - appear to have seen Britain out of the downturn earlier than other large economies.

The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index rose to a 12-month high in May, while two separate house price surveys from lenders also showed growth for the month.

Michael Baxter, economist at Defaqto, said: ’I think it is pretty clear from the evidence that emerged recently that we do seem to be lifting out of recession.

’Whether or not that continues to be the case, whether or not we are going to go back into recession at a later date remains to be seen. I don’t think there is much doubt that has come out over the last couple of months seems to suggest that the UK appears to be moving out of recession much quicker than we thought it was going to.’ADNFCR-2318-ID-19214202-ADNFCR