Businesses make voices heard at Bank of England panel event for Chamber members

15 Mar 2024

Published in: Black Country Chamber of Commerce News

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The Black Country Chamber of Commerce holds Bank of England panel.

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Businesses had the opportunity to share their updates on the performance of the local economy with the Bank of England during a Black Country Chamber of Commerce event.

The online session for Gold, Platinum Group and Patron Group Chamber members took place on Wednesday and included an update from the UK’s central bank on the outlook for interest rates and expected economic trends.

The Chamber holds regular Bank of England sessions to allow members to receive key information and give regional reports on the issues faced by Black Country firms.

Graeme Chaplin, Bank of England Agent for the West Midlands and Oxfordshire, outlined the national outlook and the latest real-time intelligence collected by the Bank’s network of agents from businesses up and down the country.

He said: “The good news is that inflation is down significantly. Having peaked at around 11% it is now down to around 4% and likely to fall further at the beginning of this year.

“However, we think that the inflation rate will pick up a bit over the next year and a half and will not really start consistently coming down to our 2% target until sometime in 2026.

“The other good news is that the markets are expecting at least a couple of interest rate cuts in 2024 and for the Bank of England to get bank rates down from 5.25% to around 3% in around 18 months to two years’ time.”

Chamber members were invited to join a discussion on business conditions and contribute information on topics of particular interest to the Bank’s Policy Committees at present.

The updates included local views on business confidence, attitudes to investment, consumer spending, the impact of disruption in the Red Sea, labour market challenges, pay growth expectations and the outlook for pricing.

Speaking after the event, Black Country Chamber of Commerce CEO Sarah Moorhouse said: “Meetings such as this are a cornerstone of the Chamber’s policy, lobbying and representation work.

“The Bank of England Panel event ensures that Chamber members are kept up to date with the economic outlook and goings on at a national level, but it is also an important opportunity for businesses to get their voices heard by decisionmakers.

“Contributions from organisations in our region on different business policy issues help build the Bank of England’s understanding of the local and national economy as well as industry-specific challenges, which can help ensure that their economic policy represents all areas and sectors of the UK economy.

“Thank you to all Chamber members who made valuable contributions at our latest event. There were some great discussions around current business challenges as well as reasons to be positive.”

The Black Country Chamber of Commerce’s next Bank of England Panel event will take place on Tuesday 25 June from 8.30am to 10.30am.

For more information and to book a Gold, Platinum or Patron place, please visit https://www.blackcountrychamber.co.uk/events/25062024/bank-of-england-panel/