IoD Reaction to GDP figures

Dated: 27 April 2011

Commenting on the latest GDP figures, Graeme Leach, Chief Economist at the Institute of Directors said:

“The preliminary GDP figures are a very mixed bag with grounds for both optimism and pessimism. Pessimists point to the fact that GDP is stagnant with output unchanged over the past 6 months. This is very much in line with the IoD’s long held view that this recovery will be more L than V shaped. Today’s GDP numbers add further weight to the case against an interest rate rise. But the optimists can’t be ignored either. Leaving aside the construction sector – which contracted sharply – overall services output rose strongly (by 0.9 per cent), although this did follow a decline of 0.6 per cent in the previous quarter.

Graeme Leach also said:

“We shouldn’t place too much emphasis on the Q1 data. The more important figure will be Q2 when we begin to see the squeeze on real incomes really kick-in and what effect this has on consumer spending, together with the implementation of the public spending squeeze”.

ENDS

Contact Points

Edwin Morgan
Media Relations Manager
Institute of Directors, 116 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5ED
Tel: +44 (0)20 7451 3392
Mob: +44 (0)7814 386 243
Email: edwin.morgan@iod.com
Website: www.iod.com/policy

Notes to editors

  • The IoD (Institute of Directors) was founded in 1903 and obtained a Royal Charter in 1906. The IoD is a non-party political organisation with upwards of 45,000 members in the United Kingdom and overseas. Membership includes directors from right across the business spectrum – from media to manufacturing, e-business to the public and voluntary sectors. Members include CEOs of large corporations as well as entrepreneurial directors of start-up companies.
  • The IoD offers a wide range of business services which include business centre facilities (including ten UK regional centres [three in London, Reading, Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester, Nottingham, Edinburgh and Belfast] and one each in Paris and Brussels), conferences, networking events, virtual offices and hotdesking, issues-led guides and literature, as well as free access to business information and advisory services and a comprehensive Information Centre. The IoD places great emphasis on director development and has established a certified qualification for directors – Chartered Director – as well as running specific board-level and director-level training and individual career mentoring programmes.
  • In addition, the IoD provides an effective voice to represent the interests of its members to government and key opinion-formers at the highest levels. These include ministers, constituency MPs, Select Committee members and senior civil servants. IoD policies and views are actively promoted to the national, regional and trade media.
  • For further information, visit our website: www.iod.com
  • You can also keep up to date with the latest views from the IoD on twitter.com/The_IoD and at blogs.iod.com