Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Widespread pessimism about UK economy "overdone"
Anthony Hilton, Evening Standard financial editor and chair at the AM Financial Conference 2011 next month believes widespread pessimism about the state of the UK’s economy is "overdone".
Hilton said: "My take on the economic outlook is that there are good reasons to be optimistic and that widespread pessimism is overdone.
"As the UK recovers from recession it traditionally has several years of above average growth.
"It is often not appreciated at the time in the aftermath of a downturn how well things are going. In the 1990s politicians were ridiculed for seeing "green shoots" but with hindsight they were right."
Hilton will be talking at the AM Financial Conference 2011 on November 15 at the Oxford Belfry and will provide delegates with his analysis of the recovering UK economy, as well as his views on the automotive retail market.
Hilton believes businesses should have their fingers crossed for cheer next year.
He said: "VAT will cease to be an issue at the turn of the year, and sterling has been pretty steady at its lower level for some time now. Oil prices are all over the place day by day but still significantly below their peak.
"Finally there is the simple fact that if people don't have much to spend, retailers have to cut prices to tempt them into the shops. That ought to make 2012 a bit more cheerful than this year. That is certainly what happened last time. As Jonathan Loynes of Capital Economics points out, inflation also hit 5.2% in September 2008. But it was down to 1.1% just 12 months later."
DATED: 26.10.11
FEED: AM
