Triple Dip 2013?

I think this is unlikely on balance because you need 2 quarters of negative growth to officially be a triple dip and they need to be consecutive. I can see Q4 2012 being low but not too low. Although the FTSE is wobbling in the year end as companies like Aggreko deliver yet more sets of poor results. Clearly, with the Coalition having been in power for 2.5 years now the austerity hits to public sector spend are really biting into a whole section of the private world. In the long-term this is great news for the Country, in the short-term there are adjustments to be made.

on the more positive side, the excessive stimulus in China seems to be having the effect of driving better growth there and in the US there is a steadying off of gains, but nonetheless growth is above 2% which is also positive. As long as the US and China stay in good shape this is good news for the rest of the world.

So on balance, the OBR forecast for next year of 0.8% is pretty accurate, as this may well infer at least one quarter of negative growth, but two in a row is unlikely so a triple dip will be avoided, albeit not by much!