Britain Will Have To Increase Exports
It\’s common knowledge that Britain, like most of the world, is having financial problems at the moment. A new report from a team of economic forecasters at Ernst & Young says that the UK is facing a decade of readjustments away from consumer spending. The report said that Britain will need to start focusing on increased exports rather than the spending that comes from consumers.
Firms in the United Kingdom have relied on domestic consumers but they will have to start looking at customers in overseas markets to meet their current goals. Chief economic adviser Peter Spencer said that there had been, \”a decade of relying on the domestic consumer.\” The report went on to say that economic growth in Britain would have a tough time even reaching 1% for 2010. These are very poor numbers compared to the previous ten years.
Consumers in the UK are \”cashed out\” Spencer said. He went on to say that forecasts were showing that consumer spending in the country would only increase by 0.4% this coming year. This comes at a tough time for UK businesses and the report from Ernst & Young shows that an upturn in the world economy was the only way there would be any real growth in the Britain this year. Spencer said \”the energy and enterprise of UK exporters\” was what would make or break the financial situation.
The Ernst & Young report from this week says refocusing trade to the overseas markets was going to be key to the success of many UK businesses. One place they suggest to start is China. The United Kingdom has been a large player in Asian markets in the past but they seem to have skipped over China to some extent. Currently, the UK has a very low market share in the country. In order to really get the economy back the British will have to look to this growing market in the coming year.
The report by Ernst & Young suggests that exports will likely pick up in 2011. The Item Club report expects up to 10% growth by 2012 and even 9% in 2011, which will calm the nerves of many. In the short term things aren\’t looking so good. Official figures from late 2009 may show that the United Kingdom officially ended the recession but the report states that this was likely thanks to temporary measures rather than some kind of sustainable solution.
The report said that firm restocking, the car scraping program, and a lower VAT had kept the country afloat during tough times.
It was expected that after the side effects of these measures went away trouble would begin again.
At the same time as this report, Begbies Traynor issued more data saying that insolvencies were down in the final quarter of 2009 – as much as 15% lower than a year before. Begbies Traynor felt this could be another side effect of government measures after the recession.
Both reports showed that 2010 might be a tough year for the economy but that things could bounce back in 2011.
Looking to find out more about the consumer spending and the IVA process, then visit Mike Garrett\’s site on debt in the UK.