Britain officially out of recession - but for how long?

With GDP rising by 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2009, Britain is technically out of recession. But a double-dip is a distinct possibility.

"Never has an end to a recession been so underwhelming," as Colin Ellis of Daiwa Capital Markets put it. Britain barely returned to growth in the fourth quarter, with GDP rising by 0.1%, far below the 0.4% widely expected. Technically that brings to an end the longest and deepest recession since the 1930s, a six-quarter stretch that saw GDP slide by 6.1% from peak-to-trough. We are the last G7 economy to come out of recession.

What the commentators said

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