Attacking the recession

News

Industry bodies call for investment as the CBI predicts that the recession will moderate in the second half of 2009.

The UK recession deepened more than expected in the first three months of this year, but this should prove to be the worst of the quarterly falls in GDP and the recession is expected to moderate in the second half of 2009, the CBI has said.

Nevertheless, the recovery will be slow and fragile, according to the CBI, with GDP growth resuming only in the spring of 2010.

As a result of the state of the economy, several groups are now urging the government to take immediate action in the forthcoming Budget.

Researchers at the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) believe that the government should use the Budget as an opportunity to reshape the economy by investing in three key growth sectors: healthcare, green technology and digital media.

Jonathan Kestenbaum, NESTA's chief executive officer, said: 'Previous industrial interventions in the 1960s and 1970s ignored demand and focused on unsuccessful attempts to pick winning firms rather than new growth areas. The government must invest in areas where future demand will drive next-generation technologies.'

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