UK 'double dip' recession expected by most finance directors Ian Stewart, Deloitte chief economist, said: "Those pinning their hopes for growth on a sharp increase in corporate spending in the UK this year may be disappointed. On balance, CFOs [chief financial officers] expect corporate hiring, investment and discretionary spending to contract in 2012. Deloitte said more than half of the finance chiefs surveyed thought there was a high or very high level of uncertainty facing their businesses, up from 26pc last summer. One director summed up the mood: "Everyone is waiting for something very bad to happen," he said. Mr Stewart said the majority of directors were "now working on the assumption that Britain will fall back into recession." They expected weak trading conditions to last for "more than a year." Bank credit and corporate bond markets had also become more difficult, with finance directors reporting the sharpest decline in credit availability since the third quarter of 2008, he said.