Economy is growing at fastest rate in two years despite fears over vote to leave EU
THE West Midlands economy is booming, according to business leaders. The region’s economy has grown at its fastest rate for 20 months.
Businesses in the region are enjoying more success than those in any other part of the country, suggesting the Brexit vote in June had not so far damaged the economy
However, business leaders in the region warned that one of their biggest problems was likely to be finding the extra staff they need.
The outlook was revealed in a study by Lloyds Bank, which publishes regular reports called the Regional Purchasing Managers’ Index.
This looks at the level of business activity in every part of the country, including sales and the number of people employed.
A Lloyds Bank spokesman said: “At a regional level, the strongest output growth was seen in the West Midlands.”
Corin Crane, chief executive of the Black Country Chamber of Commerce, said: “Not only is growth robust across all sectors, but the pace is the strongest for 20 months and fastest in UK.”
He said businesses would be helped by improvements to broadband services in the region.
Another report this week suggested businesses are being created at a faster rate in Birmingham than in the capital.
The city’s business base grew by 8.1 per cent during 2016, ahead of Manchester at 7.2 per cent and London at 6.4 per cent.
The national average for growth was 3.5 per cent, less than half that of Birm i n g h a m’s , according to a the report from the Office for National Statistics.
The number of businesses in Bi r ming - ham rose from 35,665 to 38,552 during the course of the year, according to a report in The Financial Times, with Manchester’s up from 24,150 to 25,895 while London grew from 502,685 to 535,110. Marketing Birmingham, the city’s business development body, said sectors such as professional services, life sciences and digital was behind the West Midlands economic growth, with Jaguar Land Rover partly behind a rise of 25 per cent in engineering companies. . Neil Rami, chief executive of Marketing Birmingham, said: “The pace and the scale of economic growth in Greater Birmingham has been significant over the past year. “The unprecedented level of new enterprises here is demonstrating how the regions can outclass London as a central hub for innovation, productivity and longterm future prospects. “Some of the most significant development opportunities in Europe – using HS2 as a catalyst – have fuelled increased interest from key markets including China, the US and the Middle East.”