Key economic issues in focus at BPS conference
THE Bank of England’s dilemma over interest rates as inflation continues to remain well above target, will be the top topic for debate at today’s Business and Professional Services conference.
The event, organised by pro.manchester features a host of expert speakers including Business Minister Mark Prisk, Angela Knight from the British Bankers Association, Andrew Bailey, executive director of the Bank of England and Mark Berrisford Smith, chief economist at HSBC.
Expert panels featuring the bosses of major North West businesses, such as Alan White from N Brown and Ken Knott from developer ASK, will explore how the corporate and commercial property sectors are seeing life.
Sir Howard Bernstein, chief executive of Manchester City Council will open the event, which has attracted more than 250 people, with a theme of ‘Rebalancing The Economy – can government policy really work’.
The BPS conference, which is being hosted by BBC Newsnight presenters Kirsty Wark and Gavin Esler, also includes sessions on private equity, universities in business and working with high growth companies.
Addressing the economic dilemma facing the Bank of England pro.manchester chief executive John Ashcroft said: “The governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, has warned he may be writing letters to the Chancellor for the rest of the year as inflation will remain well above target.
“The weakness of sterling and the increases in VAT, food energy and commodity prices rises are making things difficult for policy makers.
“The price of oil rising is also having a dramatic knock-on effect on inflation, a price rise exacerbated by geo-political developments in the Middle East, North Africa and now Japan.”
