Britain's economic growth to return in 2010: central bank

LONDON, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Britain's economy will return to growth at the beginning of 2010, the Bank of England said Wednesday.

In its quarterly inflation report, the BOE, Britain's central bank, projected growth in gross domestic product would return at the beginning of 2010. The level of GDP was expected to return to its pre-recession peak at the beginning of 2011, the central bank said.

Meanwhile, the BOE also predicted that inflation would rise sharply to above 2 percent in the next few months -- higher than its August forecast -- before easing back to around 1.6 percent in the medium term.

The forecasts were based on financial market assumptions of interest rates averaging 0.6 percent in the second quarter of 2010, then rising steadily to 2.9 percent in the third quarter of 2011.

The report said the world economy has showed signs of recovery though global economic activity remained significantly below pre-crisis levels, adding that a number of indicators suggested that British economic activity has begun to stabilize.