Morning papers: End of double dip recession?

Figures this week are expected to signal the end to the double-dip recession and point to an economy heading back to growth, reports the Daily Mail.

The scale of the shrinkage in GDP in the second quarter has already been trimmed from 0.7 per cent to 0.5 per cent and the betting in the City is that Thursday’s third and final estimate will revise the fall to just 0.4 per cent.

UK economy to shrink this year, ICAEW warns

The UK economy will contract this year and show sluggish growth of just 0.9 per cent in 2013, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales has predicted, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Shops reel after four years of pain

The financial crisis has wreaked “severe and long-lasting” damage on Britain’s high street in the four years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, retailers warned today, reports the Independent.

The British Retail Consortium research, timed to mark the fourth anniversary of the banking failure which nearly brought down the world’s financial system, showed sales growing at less than half the rate they were before recession struck in 2008, laying bare how a sustained consumer downturn has hammered the biggest names in the sector.

Vince Cable reveals £1bn backing for business bank to help small firms

George Osborne has agreed to set aside £1bn to establish a British business bank to help small- and medium-sized enterprises, Vince Cable will announce today, reports the Guardian.

In what Liberal Democrats are hailing as one of the major announcements of their conference, the business secretary will say that the new bank could leverage up to £10bn to help businesses struggling to find funds from high-street banks.

Give Greece more time, says French PM

France has said Greece should be given more time to meet the terms of its international bailout, in the clearest call yet by a leading eurozone country for an easing of the stringent conditions attached to the €174bn (£139bn) rescue package, reports the Financial Times.

Jean-Marc Ayrault, the prime minister, taking a clear swipe at those in Germany insisting on a hard line against Athens, warned that a Greek exit from the eurozone would be “unmanageable” and could be “the beginning of the end of the European project”.

Portugal prepares U-turn on social security payment increase

Portugal’s government is preparing a U-turn on an announced rise in social security contributions that would have instantly increased workers’ payments by nearly two-thirds amid a growing popular revolt against austerity measures, reports the Guardian.

Paul Volcker: ring-fencing banks is not enough

Ring fencing Britain’s banks will not protect taxpayers in the event of another financial crisis, according to Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve and the architect of the ‘Volcker Rule’, reports the Daily Telegraph.