We understand the impact to our members with what’s happening in the economy. To give you all the insight you need, we’ve prepared a presentation which looks at trends in key areas of the economy, such as private sector activity, supply chains, price growth, and more.
Here are the key trends we’ve been seeing so far in Q2:
- Business activity overall has been resilient in recent months, but expectations point to the pace of growth flatlining in the next three months
- The Russia-Ukraine war and recent Chinese lockdowns have compounded existing global supply chain challenges. These supply issues have, in turn, pushed up costs of energy and non-energy commodities
- Many firms have responded to global supply disruption and input cost volatility by increasing inventories and diversifying supply chains
- Due to the tight UK labour market, quick wage growth has put further pressure on firms’ margins. However, workers are still expected to see a fall in real wages, as CPI inflation outpaces wage increases
- Supply disruption, cost pressures, and broader economic uncertainty has led to a widespread deterioration in business sentiment
- This decline in sentiment has, in turn, fed into a moderation in private sector investment intentions.