IF this country of ours is to grow and prosper in the future it will have to be on the back of improved export performance. We cannot do it simply by increasing our own internal money circulation.
IF this country of ours is to grow and prosper in the future it will have to be on the back of improved export performance. We cannot do it simply by increasing our own internal money circulation. This is not, by the way, a side swipe at the In/Out referendum coming up, although that, in itself, raises many interesting questions and possibilities. What I am talking about is what is generally referred to as The Balance of Payments. It does not take a genius to realise that if, over an extended period of time we import significantly more than we export, then funds are going to start to run low. Sure we can stave off the inevitable by selling off the family silver (or as in the case of a previous Labour Chancellor the Family Gold reserves) or we can put ourselves more in hock by increasing our borrowings, but eventually the Crunch will come. Look at Greece for example. In the first half of the last century, the UK was generally a net exporter. The two World Wars and the subsequent loss of the British Empire changed all of that (and I am not saying we should have tried to retain the Empire, definitely not). The problem has been compounded by the fact that, over the last 50 years, our ability as a nation to compete in product manufacture has, for a variety of reasons, diminished. Whilst this has been compensated for to a certain extent by increases in services, both banking and others, that we export, this has all had a drastic & negative effect on our Balance of payments. What is needed is for this nation to dramatically improve its export performance. It would appear that, at long last, some of our politicians have begun to understand this. Phrases such as Exporting is Fun are being heard, though as someone who spent the first 25 years of his working life in export sales and marketing, I’m not sure that’s always true. Government is starting to help and is encouraging more SMEs to understand the benefits of exporting both to the economy and to themselves. Support is available from a variety of sources including UK T&I, The FSB, NEP and local Chambers of Commerce. At BFS we are also doing what we can to help the export drive. As well as our own in-house experience, we have strong contacts with a wide range of lenders who can provide export oriented financial services. We are happy to introduce them to both existing and potential exporters. For details or just a general chat on the subject call us on 01327 349779 or email to We look forward to hearing from you.