By the time you read this it will have been 100 days since lockdown began and as we tentatively return to “normal”, whatever that now may mean, the stark realisation of the economic impact of the coronavirus epidemic is being laid out vividly before us.
The graphs we usually use to assess economic performance look as though someone’s hand has slipped. They gently undulate through the past two decades, rising and falling as the economy grew and contracted. Then, when they reach March 2020, they fall vertically, as though off a cliff. The number of people claiming benefit has risen by 23%, GDP is down 20%, and UK public debt is now larger than the size of the UK economy. All hopes of a V shaped recovery seem to have dissipated and we still face the potential of a second wave. Oh, and you can throw in the still unresolved Brexit situation just for good measure. Two words sum things up. Doom and Gloom.
For startups and scaleups, the funding situation is outlined in our ObEISance article below kindly provided by Beauhurst and my Talking Points articles highlights the steps Government and policymakers are taking to set the UK back on the road to recovery. Positively, there is much appreciation of the role the UK’s startups and scaleups can play in reigniting growth in the UK and perhaps this will spark a renewed and sustained interest in supporting the UK’s SMEs. Full Edition here