BUSINESSES in Coventry and Warwickshire are shrouded in uncertainty due to an unpredictable global economy, a meeting has heard.
Representatives from a range of companies in the region say they are being impacted by the increase in National Insurance contributions, and by the uncertainty caused by the USA’s new trade tariffs.
They raised their concerns with Glynn Jones, the Bank of England’s Deputy Agent for the West Midlands, at Coventry Conferences at the TechnoCentre.
Glynn was there to feed back issues raised to the bank to help it understand the sentiment in the regional economy.
He said: “It’s not easy to set the context for the economy because things are changing and evolving at pace.
“We made a forecast in February but recent announcements coming out of the USA will have a material impact on the outlook for growth and inflation. However, what we do know is that the UK economy is fairly stagnant and has been for some time.
“There are threats to the economy on both the upside and the downside and there is a huge amount of uncertainty.
“This makes it difficult to forecast growth and is especially challenging for monetary policy given the long lags involved before changes in Bank Rate feed fully through to the economy.”
Corin Crane, chief executive of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, said: “The only thing that has been certain for businesses over recent years has been uncertainty. One business around the table has been operating for seven years and they said they didn’t know what normal looks like.
“So, it is great to be able to have this conversation with the Bank of England and to talk about the daily issues being faced by businesses.
“As the voice of business, it’s our role to ensure that decision-makers hear directly from those who matter most – our members who are working day and night to grow and make a positive contribution to the local economy.”
