Economists now see shallow recession in back-half of 2016

Economists now believed the UK economy would register a slight contraction in the third quarter and fourth quarters of 2016, after sharply lowering their forecasts in the wake of the referendum vote, a Reuters poll revealed.

The economy was set to shrink by 0.1% in both those quarters, meeting the technical definition of a recession, with some of those polled anticipating a sharp reduction in private investment as business chiefs waited for the fog of uncertainty to clear.

According to the results of the same poll, for now the Bank of England was done with topping up its 435bn pound programme of quantitative easing.

However, more than two-thirds of those polled who answered an extra question said they expected the Chancellor to unveil significant fiscal stimulus in its Autumn Statement.