THE GUARDIAN: The governor of the Bank of England issued a stark warning yesterday of a looming economic slowdown as he signalled that the next year will be the toughest for Britain in a decade.
Putting investors on high alert for a sharp fall in share prices, Mervyn King said the period ahead would be marked by slower growth, rising inflation, a weakening housing market and a falling pound. He expressed surprise that global stock markets had so-far shrugged off evidence of the slowdown.
The governor stressed that even the two quarter-point cuts in interest rates pencilled in to the Bank's forecasts would not spare consumers from a painful period of belt-tightening next year - and that the risk was that the UK economy would be even weaker than Threadneedle Street currently expects. Bank's grim warning over UK economy: Rising inflation and weak house market over next year, says King
Mark Alexander
