Britain's economy feels pain of credit squeeze

Gloom over the British economy spread on Monday as the Confederation of British Industry slashed its growth forecasts and more evidence emerged of falling house prices. The CBI said the economy was unlikely to grow by more than 2 percent in 2008, a sharp deceleration from around 3 percent this year.
The business lobby had been forecasting growth of 2.2 percent in September. Property website Rightmove reported that annual house price inflation fell to its lowest in almost two years in the month to December 8. On an unadjusted month-on-month basis, asking prices for homes saw their biggest fall since the survey began nearly six years ago.