All the latest economic and financial news, including gloom from Britain’s exporters and hefty job cuts at Standard Chartered 7.55am GMT PHIL COUCHMAN, CEO OF PARCEL BUSINESS DHL EXPRESS UK, SAYS BRITISH EXPORTERS ARE SUFFERING FROM PERSISTING WORRIES OVER THE EUROZONE (AFTER ANOTHER SUMMER DOMINATED BY THE GREEK CRISIS) The strong pound isn’t helping either, leading to today’s downbeat survey: “We can mostly attribute the drop in export orders and sales to uncertainty in the Eurozone, and the instability of the Chinese and wider global economy. Despite these factors, we must remember that UK businesses are resoundingly resilient. Whilst the overall index has fallen, over half of businesses say export orders have remained constant – and half say export sales have too.” 7.43am GMT THE UK MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY HAS SUFFERED A PAINFUL SLUMP IN EXPORT GROWTH AND CONFIDENCE AS PROBLEMS IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY HIT DEMAND. According to the British Chambers of Commerce this morning, exporters are at their gloomiest since the dark days of the last recession. While export orders have remained constant for just over half (54%) of UK businesses, and 50% report that export sales have remained the same as in the previous quarter, both have fallen to their lowest level since Q2 2009. “Driving export growth is key to reducing the UK’s deficit and maintaining our global competitiveness. These figures make it clear that the UK’s export drive is at risk of going into reverse gear, precisely at the time when it needs to be moving forward. “Many firms are currently operating at capacity and are in need of support to invest in machinery or staff. Those businesses considering taking the leap and breaking into new markets desperately need access to the growth funding and working capital to enable this transformation. Continue reading...
 |
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com |