The UK's recovery from recession remains "highly uncertain", the Bank of England has warned.
Delivering the Bank's quarterly inflation report, governor Mervyn King said Britain had "only just started along the road to recovery".
He said the economy could not be repaired "in a few quarters".
The forecast was gloomy overall, warning that "bank lending will probably remain weak over the next three years".
Mr King said economic output would not return to pre-crisis levels for a "considerable period".
The predictions come after a shock 0.4% fall in output between July and September, which the bank said was "significantly weaker" than expected at the time of its August forecast.