LONDON - The end of the 2012 Olympics has left economists more uncertain than ever about the Games' boost to Britain's economy, although most agree they will help thrust the country out of recession The UK economy has been shrinking since late 2011, bruised by the euro zone's debt crisis and austerity measures at home that have sapped domestic demand. But it should grow again this quarter by a hefty 0.7 percent, the same amount it likely contracted by in the second quarter, according to the poll of more than 60 economists. Still, that consensus concealed a huge amount of uncertainty about Britain's economic performance. Forecasts for economic growth this quarter ranged from a 0.3 percent uptick to a stellar 1.7 percent surge, suggesting economists are having a particularly hard time gauging the effect of the Olympics. Stephen Lewis, chief economist of Monument Securities, argues the Games were probably a secondary factor behind any rebound for Britain's economy. He thinks it probably will have to do with no lost working days during the quarter. "It's hard to assess what the (Olympics) bounce will be, but in any case I think it should be much less than any working day effect," said Lewis. Britain's Office for National Statistics does not adjust its gross domestic product data for the number of working days. There are more days in Q3 than in the second quarter, which featured an extra holiday for Queen Elizabeth's diamond jubilee. "That in itself is going to give a boost to the economy," said Lewis. While the Olympics were largely hailed as a success, evidence for their economic impact is still sketchy. "A plus side is that all the ticket sales are being calculated for GDP purposes this quarter. But then of course we've all heard these complaints from traders around London about the effect of the Olympics on their businesses," Lewis said. After the third quarter rebound, economists expect growth to sink to a quarterly rate around 0.3 percent in the quarters thereafter. Despite the rebound this quarter, Britain's economy will end this year 0.3 percent smaller than it was at the start, compared with no growth predicted last month. That was the weakest forecast since Reuters began polling on 2012 GDP. The BoE's latest Inflation Reports suggested that Britain's economy will take until 2014 to regain its pre-crisis peak. Chief among reasons for the gloomier outlook was news the UK economy shrank 0.7 percent last quarter, according to preliminary data that was far worse than expected. That prompted economists to suggest the Bank of England will fire up its printing presses again in November, probably flooding the financial system with another 50 billion pounds of money.
