THE Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development forecasts the UK will avoid triple-dip recession by the narrowest of margins, writes Ian McConnell.

The Paris-based OECD yesterday forecast UK gross domestic product would edge up by about 0.1% quarter-on-quarter in the opening three months of 2013. This matches the UK Office for Budget Responsibility's forecast last week.

UK GDP fell 0.3% in the final three months of 2012. A further fall this quarter would see the UK record its third recession since 2008.

The Office for National Statistics said yesterday the UK's dominant services sector grew 0.3% month-on-month in January.