CBI Highlights of this month’s Economy in brief include:
- UK economic growth slowed to 0.2% in Q4 2018, bringing annual GDP growth for 2018 to 1.4%, the weakest since the financial crisis
- Consumer confidence has been drifting down over the past few months, keeping a lid on household spending, despite a recent, uptick in real pay growth
- Most companies are planning for a no deal Brexit – some have set up subsidiaries on the continent, or are reconsidering the role of their UK plants relative to their mainland European plants to reduce disruption
- Companies continue to pause investment in the UK and re-direct spending towards Europe
- The CBI growth indicator for March is amber, reflecting falling services business and slower manufacturing growth being partially offset by a mild rebound in distribution growth.
UK Retailing: Market analysts at Nielsen stated that the consumers continue to restrain grocery spending amid Brexit-related uncertainty and rising living costs, but discounters Aldi and Lidl are reaping the benefits.
Nielsen added that shoppers’ spend had continued to decrease for the third consecutive month, with sales up by 1.2% and consumer price index by 1.9% in the four weeks ending 23rd mar’19. The retail spend increased as compared with 2.5% growth during feb’19.
He attributed the slowdown to several factors, including the increased cost of living from rises in energy, fuel prices and planned increases in council tax. Extended uncertainty over Brexit negotiations also seemed to be causing shoppers to tighten their grocery budgets.
EFSA consults on draft DRVs for sodium & chloride: The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is consulting on draft dietary reference values (DRVs) for sodium and chloride. EFSA’s Panel on Nutrition, Novel Foods and Food Allergens has provisionally concluded that for general adult population (including pregnant and lactating women) an intake of 2g of sodium per day is safe and adequate. It has also concluded that an intake of 3.1g of chloride per day is safe and adequate, given that the main source of chloride in EU diets is sodium chloride. The deadline for comments on these scientific opinion is 22 May 2019.
Majority of adults in in Northern Ireland are overweight or obese: The Northern Ireland Minister, John Penrose, has confirmed that the latest obesity figures for Northern Ireland (a Department of Health commissioned study for 2017-18) reported that 64% of adults aged 16+ were either overweight (37%) or obese (27%).
Plastic food & drink packaging: The Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Select Committee has launched an inquiry into plastic food and drink packaging, which will consider what progress packaging manufacturers, food producers and retailers have made in developing and using alternatives to, and reducing consumers’ use of, plastic food and drink packaging. The deadline for response to the call for evidence is 2 May 2019.
HSE’s cost recovery rate for Fee for Intervention (FFI) will increase to £154 per hour with effect from 6th April 2019. This means that businesses that are found to be in material breach of health and safety law will be charged at this new rate. As now, those businesses that meet their legal requirements will not pay anything for HSE’s regulatory activity. HSE must set the FFI rate with the aim of recovering its full cost and in recent years it has operated at a deficit (i.e. cost more than recovered in income). A combination of this and cumulative inflationary pressures support the increased hourly rate.