U.K. Economic Growth Forecast for 2011 Raised to 1.3% by CEBR

April 16 (Bloomberg) -- The Centre for Economic and Business Research raised its forecast for U.K. growth in the next two years, saying faster global expansion and the weakness of the pound will aid the recovery.

Britain’s economy will expand 1.3 percent next year, up from an earlier prediction for 0.8 percent, the London-based independent research group said in an e-mailed statement. The forecast for 2012 is 1.4 percent, up from 1.1 percent. It kept its prediction for 1.2 percent growth this year unchanged.

The changes assume that the U.S. leads a quicker pace of global expansion than previously predicted. The forecasts are based on a win for the Conservatives in the May 6 election, though growth will be “much the same” through 2015 in the event of a coalition government between the ruling Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats, the group said.

“Whoever wins the election, we will be in for a tough couple of years of sluggish growth at best as the budget deficit issue is addressed,” Douglas McWilliams, chief executive of the CEBR, said in the statement.

A ComRes poll for broadcaster ITV News and The Independent newspaper published yesterday put the Conservatives on 35 percent support, Labour on 29 percent and the Liberal Democrats on 21 percent. That would leave the Conservatives 40 seats short of a majority, according to ComRes. A separate YouGov poll for The Sun put the Conservatives ahead by 41 percent to 32 percent for Labour, still probably not enough for an outright win.