BCC slashes export forecasts and warns of ‘flash in the pan' UK recovery

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has upgraded its UK GDP forecast for 2014 but cautioned the recovery may be short-lived unless exports bounce back.

In its Q3 update, the BCC said it expects the UK economy to grow 3.2% this year and by 2.8% in 2015, up from forecasts of 3.1% and 2.7% three months ago. However, those figures, driven by higher consumer spending, were accompanied by a halving of its forecast for export growth, to 0.8%. The slowdown will continue into 2016, the BCC added: it has maintained its 2.5% growth forecast for that year, on the expectation an interest-rate driven fall in household consumption will not be countered by an improving trade balance. "The task at hand is to ensure that the stellar 2014 growth is ...