The business group reduced its GDP forecast for 2011 to 2.1 percent, down from its December forecast of 2.3 percent.
The downgrade was largely because of greater obstacles to a sustained medium-term recovery, the BCC said.
“The recession may have technically ended, but there is no room for complacency,” BCC director general David Frost said.
“A credible deficit-reduction plan, which both business and the markets can accept as realistic, must avoid stifling the economy’s growth potential, and it absolutely must enable companies to invest and export.”
Frost called on the British government to avoid new business taxes and suspend unnecessary red tape.
BCC chief economist David Kearn warned that the UK’s economic recovery remained fragile, and that the risks of a relapse remained high.
“Longer-term growth prospects remain weak. The threat of a double-dip recession is greater in the near future than the danger of higher inflation,” Kearn warned.
“The need to significantly cut the UK’s huge budget deficit, strengthen the enfeebled banks, and reduce personal debt will inevitably limit growth in the next few years.”
Source: British Chambers of Commerce
