Only a month ago the Bank had expected that the UK would face a technical recession this year with the economy shrinking in the first and second quarters of the year (a formal recession is two successive quarters of contraction).
While it has yet to publish an updated forecast, the minutes from today’s meeting revealed that it now expected a slight increase in gross domestic product in the second quarter.
Now in the grand scheme of things there’s not all that much difference between narrowly falling into recession and narrowly avoiding it. Indeed, many would point out that the definition of a recession is, anyway, rather arbitrary.
Source : Bank of England’s new stance indicates signs of economic recovery, says Ed Conway