No-deal Brexit would impair key UK industries: BoE's Carney
Send a link to a friend
[August 02, 2019] By
Andy Bruce
LONDON (Reuters) - Bank of England Governor
Mark Carney said on Friday that some major industries could become
unviable if Britain leaves the European Union without striking a deal
with the bloc, adding that this was now a real prospect.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he will take Britain out of the EU
on Oct. 31 - regardless of whether he gets a transition deal to keep
trade running smoothly - prompting markets to price in a higher risk of
a disorderly Brexit.
Speaking a day after the BoE cut its growth forecasts for Britain's
economy, Carney said he shared a view among the government and public
that a no-deal Brexit was now a "significant possibility".
"The economics of no-deal are that the rules of the game for exporting
to Europe or importing from Europe fundamentally change," Carney said in
an interview with BBC News.
"And there are some very big industries in this country where that which
is highly profitable becomes not profitable, becomes uneconomic," Carney
said in an interview with BBC radio.
He said the automotive, transport, food and chemical sectors would face
the biggest challenges in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
[to top of second column] |
Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England (BOE) speaks at the
bank's quarterly Inflation Report Press Conference in London,
Britain August 1, 2019. Chris J Ratcliffe/Pool via REUTERS
Economists polled by Reuters on average see a one-in-three chance that Britain
departs the EU without a deal in place to smooth that transition.
Supporters of Brexit say Carney is overly pessimistic about Britain's future
outside the European Union.
Former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith said he was "one of the
architects and promoters of Project Fear" in comments published in the Daily
Telegraph on Friday - a charge Carney denied.
"It ... is not helpful to deny that shifting from the most integrated economic
relationship in the world, which is being a member of the European Union, to a
new relationship that is potentially just WTO relationship ... that that would
not have an effect on the economy," Carney said.
(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by Michael Holden and Hugh Lawson)
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |