UK Economy on Slow and Steady Growth Path

Britain's slow and steady economic growth helps it in avoiding recession, followed by upbeat data and last week's Greek debt restructuring. The Bank of England holds its asset purchase programme at £325 billion, as economists predicted 0.2 per cent growth in the current quarter.

Recently Mervyn King, BoE Governor told parliament that there was no "hard and fast" expectation there will be more quantitative easing, simply stating that the risk of setbacks will determine whether the BoE pumps more money into the economy.

Philip Shaw at Investec says: "Recent indicators have pointed towards an upturn around the turn of the year ... and hints at a rebound in GDP over Q1 - hence the UK should avoid a double dip recession."

"Economic conditions have improved" says the OECD (The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), whereas Manpower, a recruitment firm said "Employers plan to expand their workforces at the fastest rate since the third quarter of 2011."

Technically, after shrinking 0.2 percent in the later months of 2011, a second quarter of contraction would have met the technical definition of recession, however, now British economy is expected to grow at an average rate of 0.6 per cent in 2012 and at 1.6 per cent in 2013.

Economists retained their view that the BoE would keep rates on hold at their record low 0.5 per cent late into 2013. BoE policymaker Ben Broadbent said that the inflation outlook has not changed significantly compared to the last inflation report, which predicted inflation would be just below the central bank's target of 2 per cent by the end of 2012.