Economy warnings must be wake-up for Brown

An economic forecast by the CBI warns that rising commodity costs and weaker consumer demand will combine to push down next year’s GDP growth to the lowest rate since 1992, while the Bank of England Governor Mervyn King warns that inflation could soar above 4% as oil and energy prices spiral.

In response to this news SNP Westminster Treasury spokesperson, Stewart Hosie MP, has restated calls on the UK Government to introduce a Fuel Duty Regulator in the wake of high profile warnings on the economy by the CBI and Bank of England.

Mr Hosie said:

"Today’s economy warnings paint a bleak picture, and underline just how unprepared Gordon Brown has left the country to cope.

"The CBI forecast four grim quarters of falling manufacturing output and 18 months of falling manufacturing investment.

"Equally alarming, they anticipate increases in producer output prices of as much as 20% over the next three years.

"Both the CBI and Bank of England are right to point to spiralling oil and energy prices which will exacerbate the slowing of the economy and push up inflation.

"These are not so much forecasts as warnings, which will see unemployment rise this year and next.

"Alarm bells should be ringing in the Treasury, and these assessments should be the final wake-up call for the UK Government to now take serious action to moderate the price of fuel and remove one of the key inflationary pressures on the economy.

"The UK Government must adopt the policy of a fuel duty regulator now so that the economy is not further damaged by the super spikes in fuel prices forecast before the end of the year."

http://www.cbi.org.uk/ndbs/press.nsf/0363c1f07c6ca12a8025671c00381cc7/74...