Barclays boss predicts biggest economic boom since 1948 for Britain

The British isles will love its strongest 12 months of development considering that fashionable information began in 1948 as the economic system surges back to lifetime right after a speedy vaccine rollout, the boss of Barclays has predicted.

Jes Staley said he expects the British isles to have a really strong recovery along with the US, publishing its greatest rebound for a long time on the back of a write-up-lockdown customer investing spree.

He said: “Our economic forecast is for the British isles economic system to increase by six.5pc this 12 months, which would be the strongest development amount in the British economic system considering that 1948. 

“There’s tremendous pent-up demand, equally with the customer and tiny corporations, and we see that as a end result of the vaccination programme, which has been an remarkable achievements in the British isles.”

It arrived as Barclays unveiled pre-tax gains of £2.4bn for the very first quarter of the 2021, their greatest degree in thirteen many years.

The strong effectiveness was driven by strong development in its corporate and expense banking division and bumper mortgage loan lending right after home prices took off subsequent Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s stamp obligation slash.

Barclays’ share trading floor defeat forecasts in the very first quarter through a time period of wild swings on the inventory marketplace, even with a weaker effectiveness elsewhere in the bank’s marketplaces division. 

Mr Staley said: “As we enter the upcoming phase of this pandemic, we remain resolute in our commitment to guidance the economic recovery.

“From our spend knowledge, which captures British isles economic activity across our playing cards and buying corporations, we are by now observing encouraging early indicators of recovery in some sectors, which include those strike most difficult by the crisis.”