Talk of green shoots premature says Blanchflower

By Sumeet Desai

LONDON (Reuters) - Talk of economic recovery is premature and Britain's recession still has no end in sight, former Bank of England policymaker David Blanchflower told Reuters in an interview.

The U.S.-based academic, who left the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee two weeks ago, was the first policymaker to spot the current recession and for a long time was a lone voice calling for interest rate cuts.

He was spot on. The economy shrank 1.9 percent in the first three months of the year and the Bank has had to cut rates to a record low of 0.5 percent.

In recognition of his services to economics and monetary policy, Queen Elizabeth will make him a Commander of the British Empire, the government said on Saturday.

"I am very pleased and honoured," Blanchflower told Reuters. "My concern now is that this talk of green shoots is too early."

A clutch of surveys in recent days have suggested that the worst may be over for the British and perhaps even global economy.

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research this week said the country's recession ended in April and many economists are speculating the economy will have started growing again in the second quarter.

"I don't agree with the NIESR," said Blanchflower. "We are one year into this recession with no end in sight."