Contingency plans in place to tackle market volatility
CONSULS GENERAL AND KSA INVESTORS ANALYZE BREXIT IMPACT ON GULF TRADE
JEDDAH: Britain is committed to restoring people’s confidence in financial markets and to make sure the economy is stable and the period of uncertainty ends soon, said British Consul General Mohammed Shokat at the Arab News business dialogue held at the newspaper’s office in Jeddah on Thursday.
Opening the dialogue — Europe, UK, GCC and Brexit: Winners and Losers — Arab News Editor in Chief Mohammed Fahad Al-Harthi welcomed the guests to the event saying Arab News plans to host such forums as “we believe that the newspapers’ role is not just to report news but also to organize dialogues to present different perspectives to our readers.”
Saudi Arabia and GCC, he said, have very close relations with Britain and Europe and Brexit is bound to have some impact.
“We admire how the Brexit vote was conducted and how the will of the people is respected. This is the beauty of democracy. This dialogue aims to discuss the ramifications of Brexit and how it will affect GCC’s future relations with Britain and Europe,” he said.
Speaking about Arab News, Al-Harthi said this is the first publication of the Middle East’s biggest media entity — Saudi Research and Marketing Group. It was launched in 1975 and now SRMG has some 30 publications including dailies and weeklies.
Arab News intends to hold such dialogues and forums to listen to experts, diplomats and intellectuals and inform our readers about their views and opinions.
Khalil Hanware, business editor of Arab News, who moderated the discussion, asked British Consul General Mohammed Shokat to give his comments on the fallout of Brexit that initially wiped $2 trillion off the world markets and continue to have ripple effects globally.
The British consul general appreciated the Arab News initiative to hold a dialogue on Brexit and quoted the statement of new British Premier Theresa May who said Brexit meant Brexit and that people have given their verdict and “we are going to make a success of this.”
He, however, said things would be clear when negotiations begin after the UK kicks in Article 50. Britain will soon trigger Article 50 to start the negotiations, he said. Until the negotiations begin, there is no point in speculating about the outcome.
The UK is committed to restoring people’s confidence in British market, said the diplomat. Britain will make sure the economy is stable and try to end the period of uncertainty as soon as possible, he said.
Prime minister May, Shokat said, was holding talks with European leaders to discuss mechanisms to take forward the discussion.
He, however, admitted that UK will face challenges along the way during this period and added that contingency plans were in place to deal with any volatility in the market.
Shokat said the governor of the Bank of England had made it clear on the first day after the Brexit vote