By Daniel Hunter
The Forum of Private Business has said the second revised Q1 GDP figures are welcome confirmation the UK economy is heading in the right direction.
“No one likes to use the term ‘green shoots of recovery’ any more, but it certainly seems to be that this is what we are seeing,” said the Forum’s Chief Executive, Phil Orford.
“There may still be stormy times ahead, particularly with the Europe situation, but this confirmed GDP figure certainly points to the UK economy coming into bud. Just how long before we see it in full bloom will depend on many external factors, but this will be pleasing for businesses as the figure has not been revised down as we’ve seen previously.
“Hopefully this will be the confidence boost SMEs have been waiting for, and will help kick start the UK economic engine which has so far been spluttering. What we need now is for those businesses who’ve been sitting on cash reserves while the economy was in the doldrums to go out and invest, driving job growth and creating wealth — something that’s been absent for an incredibly long time.
“We don’t expect there’ll be champagne corks popping in Downing Street just yet, but they might want to dust off a few bottles for later in the year if we see more sustained growth from Q2.
“Next week’s BDRC bank lending figures will also make interesting reading and could well give a clearer indication as to how business is faring.”
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