King 'More Uncertain' Over Economy

Bank of England boss Mervyn King says he has "genuine concerns" about the course the UK economy is taking.

Speaking before the Treasury Select Committee, Mr King said he was "more uncertain now than ever" about how the economy would play.

He was speaking after a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said the UK economy was expected to constrict by 4.3% this year and then stagnate in 2010.

Mr King and fellow Bank policymakers agreed the worst of the falls were over and said the weak pound was helping bring Britain out of recession.

They added evidence so far was positive from its mammoth £125bn quantitative easing programme to boost money supply.

However, the picture was "very mixed" in spite of green shoots from sectors in the economy, according to Mr King.

He said: "I feel more uncertain now than ever, because it's not a pattern of a recession coming into recovery that we've seen since the 1930s."

Mr King warned that banks were still restricting credit to companies, hampering an recovery.

He added: "There are genuine concerns about how quickly the recovery will pick up - looking at the clear evidence, (firms) are finding it hard to access credit from the banking system.

"A combination of that and real uncertainty over the global economy makes it very difficult to be confident of a rapid recovery."