Barclays Says Prospects Bright for uk Economy

Britain can look forward to fairly strong economic growth, falling interest rates and firm Sterling, Barclays Bank Plc chairman-elect John Quinton said.

“We should see a reasonable decline in interest rates in the next few months, but not a great one and not a rapid one,” Quinton told a press luncheon.

He said that whereas the British economy is growing at about three pct, he expects only “minor” growth for the western industrialized world as a whole. But, unless there is a major move toward protectionism, there should be no need to worry about a recession in the next two or three years.

Quinton said much will depend on the resolution of trade disputed between the United States and Japan.

He said Tokyo, in resisting the appreciation of the yen, had been “holding back the laws of economics.” But if the dollar has to fall further to reduce Japan’s trade surplus, he said he hoped the fall would be slow rather than rapid.

Quinton said it will be difficult for the City of London to stave off the creation of a powerful securities industry regulatory body along the lines of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the U.S., especially if there are more insider trading scandals and if the Labour Party wins the next U.K. election.