MPC's Weale: UK will take five and a half years to recover

The UK will take five and a half years to recover to pre-recession levels, said Bank of England external MPC member Martin Weale in a speech today to the National Institute of Social and Economic Research (NIESR).

He said the recovery was "unusually slow" and more QE was highly likely. Weale blamed the downturn on worsened productivity growth causing a slow-down in consumption and the fact the mid 1990s saw unusually high consumption sustained by heightened consumer borrowing. "Even if weak consumption is an important factor behind the poor performance of the economy, that does not mean that rapid growth in consumption is the only way of sustaining the recovery." Weale said he hoped additional QE would add 0.5% to economic output but it would not be enough on its own to save the UK's flaggin...