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A recent article on the Association for Project Management (APM) website looks at the government claims that the UK economy will be “easier than ever to invest in.” Published by Dayner Proudfoot on 18th August, the article claims that the UK economy will receive £15bn of new infrastructure projects in the coming year.
Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, hailed foreign investment as a “win-win” and stated that foreign investment created over 65,000 jobs in 2013. He continued to say that “the UK is one of the best places in the world to invest with top quality infrastructure (e.g. road, rail, energy and digital) fuels growth therefore foreign investment into our infrastructure is a win-win situation.”
Annual investment figures show that in 2013 the UK attracted 14% more foreign investment projects than in the previous year. Also in 2013, the US funded nearly 500 new projects in the UK and the domestic manufacturing industry created more than 31,000 new jobs. Minister for trade and investment, Lord Livingston, commented on “an exceptional year for foreign investment with new projects creating the highest number of UK jobs in over a decade.”
Foreign investment plays an important role in the overall economic recovery and it will be interesting to see how foreign investments into the UK economy pan out this year. Will the projects be largely centralised in main cities or, with high speed rail links and improved technology, will the investment be spread nationwide. The South East and London still hold a strong appeal to investors and we look forward to working on a number of new projects in these areas with both domestic and international clients this year.