We are not headed for a recession: Abbey

  • Story by: David Pawsey
  • Magazine: MortgageAdviser
  • Published Wednesday , April 02, 2008

Recession is too strong a word to sum up the UK economic outlook, according to Abbey.

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While it looks as though the US is heading toward recession fundamentals underpinning the UK suggest the economy is heading for a slow down, the lender said.

Barry Naisbitt, chief economist for Abbey, said the global economy was seeing changes in conditions it had not seen for a long time but warned against the media creating a self-fulfilling prophecy in the UK.

He said: "When you see the front pages of some of the newspapers you have a feeling there is a willingness to talk us into a rather more dire situation by any means than we are in."

However Mr Naisbitt said there were some market trends that should not be ignored, such as rising arrears and repossessions, and it was only proper to draw attention to these areas.

He said: "They are at a low level historically but edging up is a different proposition to falling. Do not expect us to see a repeat of the 1980s and early 1990s experience but there are considerable uncertainties around."

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