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Britain defends its Economic Recovery

Britain's economic strength is widely underestimated in New Zealand, according the British High Commissioner, George Fergusson.

Speaking to the Export Institute in Christchurch, he said that there were clear signs that the UK economy was pulling through the recession, with strong figures from both the manufacturing sector and from financial services, including banking.

Britain had had a remarkable run of economic success over the previous 10-15 years, consistently leading the growth figures for the major European economies. "But many New Zealanders still see the British economy through a lens which is now 25 to 30 years out of date.”

“New Zealanders are often surprised that Britain has the sixth biggest manufacturing output in the world. Some people seem to think we've gone out of manufacturing. But it makes up half Britain's exports, with nearly a million people working in the automotive sector." He added that most of Britain's manufacturing sector was now in high technology.

The recession had had an impact on manufacturing, and on financial services especially. But both were now showing growth. He added that new economy sectors like information and software, biotechnology and creative industries where Britain claims a leading position, were relatively little affected by the recession. The City of London remained the world's biggest international financial market.

“Innovative New Zealand companies had found scope to grow by setting up in the UK. The business culture, law and accounting rules were all familiar and they were eligible for support from UK Trade and Investment - the British equivalent of NZTE, from their first day in Britain, with a free trade area of 500 million people on the doorstep”, said Mr Fergusson .

“The World Bank's Index on 'Ease of doing business", published last month put Britain in 5th place globally - ahead of Australia and Ireland, But I concede that New Zealand was ranked 2nd."

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