Reply #46: Economy on brink of recession despite Q3 growth [View All]

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http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/11/01/uk-britain-gdp-idUKTRE7A015020111101

LONDON (Reuters)- - Britain's economy is teetering on the brink of recession despite a solid performance in the third quarter, increasing pressure on the government to boost growth as renewed turmoil in the euro zone threatens to hit the country hard.

The Bank of England has already started pumping fresh money into the economy to prevent a sharp contraction, but the government is struggling to find ways to support the recovery -- already the slowest since the 1930s Great Depression -- without compromising its goal to erase a record budget deficit.

Gross domestic product grew by 0.5 percent on the quarter as business services and finance posted the strongest quarterly increase in four years, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday, a notch more than analysts had forecast.

However, the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) survey released earlier showed manufacturing activity in October fell at its sharpest monthly rate since June 2009 when Britain was still in recession.