The Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA) has said that the media’s reaction to the latest Bank of England of Inflation Report was bordering on panic. The slower growth in the economy is not a recession and indeed some sectors of the ‘real’ economy such as engineering and manufacturing are recording good, steady growth.

The latest statistics from the ONS show that in the 1st quarter of 2008 manufacturing output was +0.3% higher than in the previous quarter and +1.0% higher than in the 1st period of 2007.  For the Engineering sector within manufacturing (engineering accounts for about 30% of total manufacturing), quarter-on-quarter growth was +0.4% and the annual increase was +1.7%.

Graham Dewhurst, Director General of MTA comments: ‘It is a bit like Dad’s Army at the moment; the media are saying “we’re all doomed” - and MTA are saying “don’t panic.” The city may be panicking,  and yes,  there’s  maybe a very small risk of a short recession; but the most likely outcome is slower growth. And growth means that there are parts of the economy,  such as manufacturing technologies,  that are performing well.

‘We have just held our MACH exhibition where we had a 21% increase in visitors and people were taking big orders. Our exports are still doing well with markets such as China and India continuing to invest, and the EU27 still showing good growth. It seems that newspapers are desperate for a recession because bad news sells papers. However, listen to what Mervyn King actually says, read the Bank of England Inflation Report and look at the “real economy” outside London;  there is no recession, unless we want to talk ourselves into one.’

www.mta.org.uk