Liz Truss, UK’s secretary of state for International Trade | Photo: The Telegraph
The UK government is to establish four regional trade and investment centers across to boost economic growth.
The centers will be in Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast, and Darlington, UK Secretary of State for International Trade Liz Truss said in a statement on Tuesday. The price target will be to increase exports. But experts say the proposed economic recovery plan would go in the wrong direction.
The government says the UK needs to enter a large trade market in an effort to recover from the epidemic. Therefore, assistance and advice will be provided through this center to help regional businesses to increase exports.
“We are committed to using the UK’s trade policy for the development of every part of the UK,” said Liz Truss. These trade and investment centers will help in export and economic recovery.
According to a recent government report, the country’s exports support 6.5 million jobs across the UK, of which 74 percent are outside London. The report also found that direct and indirect export-supported jobs were paid 7 percent more than the general government pay structure.
But now the problem is that after leaving the European Union and due to the Covid-19 epidemic, the UK’s exports have decreased.
According to new data from the country’s Office of National Statistics (ONS), UK exports to the European Union fell by 40.7 percent in January.
Before, the coronavirus pandemic the economy was more than 9 percent. But Justin Urquhart-Stewart, co-founder of Seven Investment Management and the Regional Investment Platform, thinks the government’s new plan is not very orderly.
He thinks that first of all, what is needed is to create the business, encourage export and then provide export advice. He thinks that there is no need to create places where the center is being considered.