Gong hei fat choy!
27 Jan 09
This Monday saw the start of the Year of the Ox, in the Chinese calendar, and like the ox, businesspeople can look forward to a hard slog in 2009.
Over the past 24 hours a staggering 76,000 job losses have been announced throughout the UK and Europe. The cutbacks have affected workers at industrial and financial giants such as General Motors, Corus, Caterpillar and ING.
The UK government announced a £2.3 billion rescue package to get the car industry working again. The measures to support the car industry include guarantees to unlock loans of up to £1.3bn from the European Investment Bank, as well as a further £1bn in UK government loans, to fund investment in greener vehicles, in a nod to the environmental lobby.
The Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills has also said it is prepared to increase funding to help train carmakers' employees from £65m to £100m.
I guess that is good news, although it does mean even more government debt stored up for the future. Meanwhile, finding anyone who still believes that the economy will turn around some time before the end of this year is becoming harder and harder.
The last Ox year was 1997, which was not a great year for the economies of the Far East. Back then, Japan and its neighbours were still toiling to survive after the Asian “bubble” collapsed. According to Chinese astrology, the Ox is “unswervingly patient, tireless in his or her work, and capable of enduring any amount of hardship without complaint”.
Sounds like virtues many of us will be calling on over the next 12 months.