Speaking to north west business leaders at Urbis, Geraldine Concagh said she believes that there is now a real risk of a UK recession, as `a bigger fall-out' takes grip in 2009.
But she asserted that history could show the current economic downturn to be relatively shallow, if the Bank of England takes decisive action.
Mrs Concagh's warnings came in the wake of `meltdown Monday', when US investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy.
She believes that the UK will see economic growth of 1.1 per cent this year - in contrast with three per cent in 2007 - making it the slowest year since 1992.
"I think that we are in a two-year period of low or no economic growth in the UK, and I believe that we will see even bigger fall-out in 2009," she said.
"We predict that the rate of economic growth in the UK will slow to 0.3 per cent next year, and it will increase to 0.8 per cent in 2010. But I think that history could show this downturn to be shallow, depending on the actions of the Bank of England. I don't think that we will see a return to the levels witnessed in the 1990s, when unemployment became a major factor."
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