BCC tells of 'frightening deterioration' in business

BCC tells of 'frightening deterioration' in business




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Business leaders across the country are appealing for drastic measures from the Government to stop the “frightening deterioration” of the economy as the recession takes hold and credit remains unavailable. 

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) conducted a study of over 6,000 firms and found that a huge number of businesses of all sizes had experienced sharp drops in sales and order books during the final three months of 2008.

 

According to the BCC, most companies are planning to shed staff, scale back and forego investing in new equipment, premises and training in 2009.

 

John Wright of the Federation of Small Businesses has called for cuts in payroll taxes to prevent almost ninety companies going bust every day.

 

The Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Philip Hammond said it was “imperative” that the Government adopts the National Loans Guarantee Scheme proposed by David Cameron. Under the scheme, £50 billion worth of loans would be made available to small and medium sized businesses struggling to get credit. The loans would be underwritten by the taxpayer, in case of default.

 

As the balance of firms with optimistic and pessimistic prospects for employment fell to a record low of -41%, BCC’s Director-General David Frost said that there would be a lot more redundancies in the next few months, adding: “These are truly awful results with the scale and speed of the economic decline happening at an unprecedented rate.”

 

Meanwhile, figures from the CBI have shown that the financial services sector is suffering from a record fall in profits, with 59% of firms taking part in the study revealing that volumes dropped considerably during 2008.

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