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Recession Fears Could Delay UK Deficit Reduction Plans
On Wednesday, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that the UK economy contracted by 0.2 percent for the final quarter of 2011. Economists had predicted a slight increase of 0.1 percent for the last three months of the year. Despite the feeble ending to the year, the latest ONS data shows overall growth for 2011 was a mediocre, but still positive, 0.9 percent. Still, this level of expansion is well below the Bank of England’s 2 percent growth target and there is a real concern that the economy will continue to shrink during the first half of 2012. This could hardly come at a worse time for the British ... (full story)