It was always unwise for George Osborne to cite the most recent set of growth figures as proof that “we’re on the right track“, principally because the good news is unlikely to last. Growth in quarter three, which stood at one per cent, was artificially inflated by the Olympics (which added 0.2 per cent to growth) and by the bounce back from the Jubilee bank holiday (which added 0.5 per cent). There was, as I wrote when the figures were published, a strong chance of a contraction in the fourth quarter.
Now the Bank of England has become the latest forecaster to warn of the possibility of a triple-dip recession. In its quarterly inflation report, it notes that
Headline outturns for GDP in 2012 have been, and will continue to be, volatile, with the data buffeted by one-off influences such as the Jubilee and the Olympics. In Q3, output increased by 1%. In Q4, that growth rate seems set to fall sharply as the boost from the Olympics is reversed; indeed, output may post a small decline [emphasis mine].
Having claimed that the economy is “healing”, Osborne will struggle to explain why the patient has taken another turn for the worse.
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