The country’s economy is unlikely to see growth again until the beginning of next year, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has predicted.

It said that although the economy is starting to stabilise, a return to growth is not likely for some time yet.

Richard Lambert, CBI director-general, said: "It will take some time before we can be sure these shoots have roots we can depend on for sustainable growth and, in the meantime, the government must do everything it can to help firms get access to credit."

He revealed that the worst period of the recession seems to be over, although the green shoots of economic recovery need to be proven to have roots.

It predicted that by the end of the recession, the UK’s economy will have shrunk by 4.8 per cent following five quarters of falling growth domestic product.

Mr Lambert recently warned that the UK faced a number of issues which it must deal with immediately, including social and environmental challenges.

He referred to the situation as a "burning platform moment".