25th March 2008
Take American lessons to beat credit crunch, urges BCC
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has warned that the UK must learn from the United States if its small businesses are to survive the "unavoidable" economic slowdown.
Commenting on the global financial crisis, David Kern, economic adviser to the BCC, praised the US for acting forcefully by slashing interest rates and introducing methods to counter threats to growth.
In contrast, Mr Kern warned that the UK’s more "relaxed and laid-back" reaction could prove to be "dangerously complacent" at a time when, it believes, the UK faces worse economic problems than the US.
"Our personal debt ratios are very high; the UK economy is vulnerable to a downturn in the financial sector; UK house prices are stretched; our current account deficit is very high and sterling could face sharp speculative attacks," he said.
Mr Kern called for both the HM Treasury and the Bank of England to act quickly and make the threat to business growth its overriding priority.
"British business has so far been remarkably resilient in the face of the financial crisis. While a UK slowdown is unavoidable, a UK recession can be avoided. We may face in the near future a critical need for urgent corrective measures and, like in the US, the authorities must have in their armoury effective contingency plans."
Commenting on the global financial crisis, David Kern, economic adviser to the BCC, praised the US for acting forcefully by slashing interest rates and introducing methods to counter threats to growth.
In contrast, Mr Kern warned that the UK’s more "relaxed and laid-back" reaction could prove to be "dangerously complacent" at a time when, it believes, the UK faces worse economic problems than the US.
"Our personal debt ratios are very high; the UK economy is vulnerable to a downturn in the financial sector; UK house prices are stretched; our current account deficit is very high and sterling could face sharp speculative attacks," he said.
Mr Kern called for both the HM Treasury and the Bank of England to act quickly and make the threat to business growth its overriding priority.
"British business has so far been remarkably resilient in the face of the financial crisis. While a UK slowdown is unavoidable, a UK recession can be avoided. We may face in the near future a critical need for urgent corrective measures and, like in the US, the authorities must have in their armoury effective contingency plans."
- 5th January 2009 Businesses urged to make redundancies 'last resort'
- 5th January 2009 'Cut interest rate to 1%' says business group
- 2nd January 2009 Gloomier forecast from business group
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