Sir Mervyn King speaks in Sussex

On the day that government debt soared past the £1 trillion mark for the first time, Bank of England Governor Sir Mervyn King struck a surprisingly upbeat note at the conclusion of a major speech outlining the country’s economic prospects for 2012 and beyond.

Speaking at a dinner in Brighton organised and hosted jointly by EMC and Cobb PR, Sir Mervyn King told the audience of 500 business leaders: “The position of the world economy, especially in the Euro area, is serious. But there is no reason to despair.

“All crises come to an end, and businesses will find ways to trade with each other and meet the needs of consumers whatever the transitional problems posed by deleveraging. Helped by the right policy actions, the UK and world economies can and will recover. And when they do so, they will be on a more sustainable footing than at any point in the past 15 years.”

The Grand Hotel dinner came a little over a year after heavy snowfalls had forced the cancellation of a meeting of the Crawley & Gatwick Business Lunch Club at which Sir Mervyn King had been due to speak.

EMC chief executive Nik Askaroff, who introduced the Governor, said: “We were delighted that Sir Mervyn King honoured his long-standing commitment to come to Sussex and privileged that he chose the occasion to make a keynote statement about the country’s economic prospects.

“It was a marvellous opportunity for Sussex business people to hear at first hand from one of the key formers of fiscal policy. All 500 tickets for the event were snapped up in just a couple of days, and we had a lengthy waiting list that, in the end, we had to disappoint.

“It shows that there is a real interest within the Sussex business community to come to hear speakers of the right calibre and international standing. Tim Cobb and I will be getting our heads together in the near future to see if we can plan another similar event for later in the year.”

Click here to read the full text of Sir Mervyn King’s speech.

Useful links:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7dcfbb12-46bb-11e1-85e2-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1kTGHpxqJ
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/index.htm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9037053/Sir-Mervyn-King-no-reason-to-despair-over-economy.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jan/24/mervyn-king-uk-debt-trillion