“Recession is over”, say Central Bank Chiefs on both sides of Atlantic

King told MPs on the cross-party Treasury select committee that he believes the UK economy may already have started to grow, after the deepest downturn in a generation. "Following a precipitate fall in economic activity at the end of last year and the start of this, there are now signs that growth has resumed in the third quarter," he said. However, he warned that the strength and sustainability of the recovery was "highly uncertain".

In the US, encouraging economic data prompted the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, to remark that the country's recession is "very likely over". Bernanke told an audience at Washington's Brookings Institution that there was agreement among the forecasting community that the US is in a recovery, and that the economy will grow in the third quarter. However, he added that unemployment would be slow to come down, saying: "Obviously, that's a very serious concern, and that's one reason why even though from a technical perspective the recession is very likely over at this point, it's still going to feel like a very weak economy for some time."

Koris Comment: “some good news at last, although nobody should be getting carried away at this stage. Cost saving solutions with quick ROI’s will still be the order of the day for most of our clients”.