Economy faces a long, hard slog

Latest figures show that the UK economy managed to avoid a double-dip recession. But with no extra growth added, it's going to be a long road back to recovery.

The preliminary estimate of the first quarter's GDP showed that the UK economy avoided a double-dip recession with its growth of 0.5%, recovering from the 0.5% fall in 2010's final quarter. This suggests that the economy has flatlined since the third quarter of last year. The Office for National Statistics had said that the heavy snow was behind the October-December dip, so the weather-induced fall has been made up, but no extra growth has been added.

What the commentators said

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