The Office for Budget Responsibility, the new independent watchdog for the UK's public finances, has slashed official growth forecasts for next year, teeing up an even tougher Emergency Budget next week.
The OBR is forecasting growth of 2.6% in 2011, below the 3.25% predicted in March's Budget. It predicts borrowing of £155bn in the current financial year - below the £163bn forecast in the Budget - with total net borrowing over the next five years £23bn lower than expected in March.
The OBR said in its document: "Our conclusion is that there is a smaller amount of spare capacity and that future trend growth is likely to be weaker than was estimated in the March Budget."
Dragons' Den judges James Caan and Deborah Meaden and social entrepreneur Karen Darby are some of the successful entrepreneurs who feature in our exclusive videos. 
Join our social media discussion group and share your Twitter username with other BusinessZone members. 
We've got lots of free books to give away; all you've got to do is review them! 
We're putting together a list of business owners' must-haves.