2014 promises to be a pivotal year for the economic recovery both in the United Kingdom and the Eurozone.
In the United Kingdom, whilst there has been a significant reduction in the level of unemployment and an easing of inflationary pressures, there remains a major concern that the growth in the economy is not being matched by an underlying growth in productivity.
The Governor of the Bank of England indicated in a speech last week that interest rates were set to remain well below historic norms in the medium term but that one of the upwards pressures was this lack in meaningful productivity growth.
Against this economic backdrop, governments across Europe need to support and nurture the conditions to allow business to thrive.
The apparent unwillingness of traditional banking sector to provide the necessary level of working capital funding to business remains an obstacle. However, the last year has seen a remarkable increase in peer-to-peer lending culminating last week in the world’s largest loan to date of slightly over £4m being attained by a housing development in Croydon, south London provided by literally hundreds of private investors.
To keep you up to date with the latest economic and fiscal news and the impact on both businesses and individuals, from February, CooperFaure will be launching a new fortnightly Newsletter supported by regular News Alerts and we invite you to subscribe to this free service.