The UK economy is set to contract this year yet avoid a technical recession due to the changing global developments and support measures taken by the government, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said in his budget speech on Wednesday. The Office for Budget Responsibility, also known as the OBR, forecast the economy will not enter a recession at all this year with a contraction of just 0.2 percent, Hunt said as he presented the spring budget statement in the parliament. A technical recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of output decline.
In the autumn statement in November, the government had forecast the economy to enter a recession last year and a 1.4 percent shrinkage in GDP this year.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.