LONDON, Feb 8 Reuters Britain will dodge recession this year but its people will face the aftereffects of a severe fall in living standards caused by surging inflation, which will leave millions struggling to pay their bills, academic researchers forecast on Wednesday.

Britain39;s National Institute for Economic and Social Research NIESR cut its forecast for gross domestic product growth this year to 0.2 from 0.7 in its last forecast in November, and sees growth of 1.0 in 2024, down from 1.7.

NIESR Director Jagjit Chadha said the forecasts painted an incredibly depressing picture, particularly for living standards which are set to stagnate this year after falling sharply last year due to the surge in energy prices.

One in four British households would be unable to pay for food and energy without using up savings, borrowing or seeking other help in the 202324 financial year, up from one in five during the current year, NIESR said.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said one of his top goals is to ensure inflation halves this year as had already been forecast by the Bank of England BoE and the country is in the middle of a wave of strikes as workers seek higher pay.

Overall, most Britons needed to accept that their incomes had fallen in real terms and could not be easily made up by higher pay, Chadha said echoing a message from the Bank of England last week when it raised interest rates to a 14year high of 4 to tackle inflation that is still above 10.

The poorest 10 of…