Current state of the UK Economy

The current state of the UK economy can only be described as a constant 'ebb and flow'; as fluctuations in interest rates, profits and the value of the pound etc all contribute to this somewhat everlasting instability. Take profits, for example. After reading an Article produced by 'The Telegraph', they claim that profit warnings have fallen to the lowest level in 7 years, mainly due to British companies and investors fearing the worst, and preparing themselves for a poor year in terms of the economy's performance. However, profits actually performed better than expected, as only 45% profit warnings were issued in the second quarter of 2017; which has went down by almost a third within the last year.

Above is an example of the instability of the UK economy; and how this may culminate in less investment from foreign countries. It is the job of Actuarial Scientists and similar professions to evaluate the risks associated with insurance etc in the UK Economy, however this OBVIOUS lack of stability could make their job a problem. A further example which shows the weakness of the UK economy (and which helps to prove the fact that the UK is the worst performer in the EU in the opening 2 quarters) was when the Government announced that borrowing increased after the State was forced to pay a higher interest on its debt. This was due to public sector net borrowing, minus state-owned banks such as RBS and Lloyds, rising £2bn from 2016 to a total of £6.9bn. In addition to this, Governemnt debt rose by a third from 2016, as rising inflation pushed up the interest on index-linked bonds. Overall, this has lead to the ONS stating that "borrowing is up £1.9bn to "22.8bn", thus again showing that the current state of the UK economy is poor.

Why is this so? There are many reasons as to why the UK economy is performing so badly at this current time, however the list is endless. In my opinion, Brexit has had severe consequences on the Economy (I would appreciate it if you read my first blog on 'Brexit - Implications on young people'), as Theresa May has ignored various factors such as The Labour Market; which will worsen the effect that Brexit will have on the Economy. Furthermore, the general political instability may discourage people from effectively contributing to the Economy. However, it is important to note that UK politicians such as Theresa May are trying to make the best of a bad situation, as it was the public's decision to leave the EU.

To conclude, the current state of the UK economy is "bad", according to 'The Guardian'. In my opinion, the Economy needs to gain stability and tackle Brexit correctly in order to become more affluent. It is also important to focus on HOW the Economy can be improved, for example assessing the problem of global pensions and how much pensions could rise, as opposed to WHY the Economy is where it is.

A link describing global pension problem:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/05/26/pensions-sitting-global-time-bomb-warns-wef/