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Brexit disastrous for businesses in UK: Academic

The offices of Barclays, KPMG, HSBC and Bank of America, are pictured in the Canary Wharf financial district of east London on June 26, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Press TV has conducted an interview with Keith Pilbeam, a professor of international economics and finance at the City University in London, about the impact of the British exit of the European Union on businesses in the United Kingdom.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Well, this new survey is showing confidence among British businesses has dropped. Were you expecting anything other than this following the Brexit vote?

Pilbeam: Well, absolutely one expected this, because it's a disastrous result and businesses now would clean up the mess and deal with it for years to come. I mean it's a complete nightmare.

Press TV: Surely, the aftershocks are going to hit first the business market in Europe and subsequently in world markets. How long before we feel the after-effects of the Brexit vote in international markets transcending the borders of Britain?

Pilbeam: Well, I think you're already seeing the effects, because all measures of uncertainty have increased dramatically. The Bank of England's got a particular measure and that sort of troubled.

Businesses don't know what to do. They don't know whether they can recruit people, what the rules, what the relationships would be. And of course investments are already being hit and discretionary consumer expenditure. So, the effects are immediate.

Press TV: And what's to come following the negotiations for Britain's exit from the European Union? Will there be any steady phase after Britain invokes article 50 and begins formal negotiations to leave the European Union?

Pilbeam: Look to be honest, UK hasn’t done trade negotiations since 1973. We don't have any trade negotiators with the skills required to do these deals that we supposed to do with the rest of the world, the EU and so triggering article 50 is going to be very difficult, because two years is clearly not enough.


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