Good Manufacturing News

February 28, 2011 By Malcolm Blair-Robinson

This sector is now growing faster than at any time in the last twenty years. This is an important sign of the the re-balancing of the economy essential to long term recovery. It is not just a case of shrinking the state, but also the service sector. There are signs too that over reliance by business on loans and excessive house price rises are both damping down. This is another essential part of the re-modelling plan. Caution is needed everywhere to avoid falling back into old ways which nearly bust the country. Especially we need to make more of what we use. At present far too much is made in China.

China should be a trading partner and competitor, who we sell to, as well as buy from. We have an additional hazard at the moment. Because China has become the only source of so many everyday items, we are importing not only those items, but also China’s inflation, currently running at over 5% per year and rising. The Bank of England MPC has a very tricky hand to play at the moment. The additional input of the new Financial Policy Committee will broaden the focus and bring home the truth, overlooked before, that there is more to keeping an economy functional than the level of interest rates.