The Governor of the Bank of England says the UK is unlikely to have entered recession again.

Mervyn King predicts growth of around 1-point-2 percent in 2012.

His quarterly report also predicts inflation will drop to the Government's 2 percent target in the final three months of this year, before falling to as low as 1-point-five in 2013.

But unemployment has risen again - for the eighth month in a row.

Total unemployment grew by 48-thousand to 2-point-67 million in the 3 months to December.

That's less than the 80-thousand forecast - and in the south west the number of jobless actually dropped by six percent.