No reason to panic, say Shropshire business leaders
Shropshire's business leaders have insisted that there's no need to "push the panic button" after a new survey saw economic growth forecasts downgraded.
The EY ITEM Club's autumn forecast said gross domestic product (GDP) would grow by 3.1 per cent this year but only 2.4 per cent in 2015, much lower than expectations by the Bank of England, the CBI or International Monetary Fund (IMF).
It comes just days after the Bank's chief economist Andy Haldane signalled that interest rates were unlikely to rise until next summer amid the gloomier outlook for the economy.
But Richard Sheehan, chief executive of Shropshire Chamber of Commerce, said he remained confident that Shropshire's own economy was continuing to demonstrate steady progress.
"In our latest quarterly economic survey we saw a continuing of the positive trend in almost every area," he said. "This is supported by feedback we are getting in our day-to-day engagement.
"While there are a number of worldwide issues with the potential to impact on economic growth it's not finding its way to businesses who are providing us with intelligence.
"It's business as usual, and we continue to move upwards in a slow and progressive way, which is good news. We will keep an eye on surveys we receive locally, but at this moment there's no reason to push the panic button."
Graham Wynn, chairman of the Marches LEP, added: "Considering the economic forecasts we were looking at five years ago, a prediction of 3.1 per cent this year and 2.4 per cent next has to be looked at for what it is – a prediction for growth.
"The majority of businesses in the Marches are SMEs, and they are the engine of our regional economy and they are focused on getting the job done, on growing their businesses. There will always be wider issues to be considered, whether that is domestic political uncertainty or challenging market conditions overseas.
"However, our businesses tells us they are far more likely to be affected by lack of access to finance and poor connectivity, both in terms of mobile signal and broadband speed and infrastructure. Therefore we will focus on the barriers to growth which we can tackle, and affect, on behalf of our businesses."
The new report also follows a turbulent week on world markets, which has seen the FTSE 100 Index fall to levels not seen since June last year
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