New Year brings two 'green shoots' of economic recovery for UK
Manufacturing growth and the FTSE 100 offer some reasons to be hopeful, but will they last?
In October 1991, the then Chancellor Norman Lamont probably had little idea that his use of the phrase “the green shoots of economic spring are appearing once again” would enter into the British political lexicon. Unfortunately for him, ‘green shoots’ is not usually used in a hopeful way but rather as a sarcastic condemnation of overly optimistic political gardeners.
However, with this caveat in mind, it is surely at least somewhat encouraging that the UK’s manufacturing sector grew at the fastest pace for 15 months in December. Rob Dobson, director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said the domestic market had been “a positive spur to growth, while new export business, despite having now fallen for almost four consecutive years, took a sizable stride towards stabilising”.
Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 index rose above 10,000 points for the first time – 21 per cent higher than a year ago – which may be good news for Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who’s been trying to persuade people to invest more of their savings.
“Green shoots” you say? Perhaps, but only time will tell if they’re the good kind.
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