The third day of the Backing Britain Live exhibition saw Rhys Herbert, Senior Economist for Lloyds Bank, take to the virtual stage to share Lloyd’s outlook on rebound and recovery of the economy post-COVID-19.
As expected, since the announcement of the recession, UK GDP plummeted during lockdown however is now rebounding. On another note, it seems there is a long way to recovery.
Around 45 guests gathered on Zoom to discover Lloyd’s bank's outlook on the current and future state of the economy. Many attendees were engaged with the content as numerous questions were asked throughout the event. With the announcement of the recession in the news not so long ago, many points in the presentation reflected this.
However, it doesn't all seem to be doom and gloom as spokesperson Rhys points out that “The economy will grow again.” Alternatively, at the moment data presented by Lloyd’s Bank pointed out that most parts of manufacturing have seen falls in output and levels of activity still well below normal.
On a positive note, the presentation reflected that there has been a big rebound in stock markets and the value of sterling since March. It can be pointed out that this may have something to do with the policy response from the government as they “reacted to the pandemic by massively easing both monetary and Fiscal policy.”
Rhys then highlighted the fact that the public sector debt is up sharply which also may be a result of the policy response, though this has helped many businesses and individuals during a difficult time.
Particularly focusing on manufacturing Rhys said: “Manufacturing is less impacted by the social restrictions than other parts of the economy and in addition to this, Some increase in layoffs in the workplace seems highly likely in autumn.”
Summing up the in-depth and clear analysis of the economic outlook from Rhys, the presentation suggested that though growth rates look impressive, it may take a while to return to pre-lockdown level of activity. However, the positive news is that the downturn does not reflect the underlying problems with the economy and there are tremendous amounts of stimulus in the pipeline.
Check out our next event with Andrew Boothroyd from Mclaren F1 on 20th August at 12 pm. All you need to do is head to www.backingbritain.com and go to seminars once you have signed up.