It's fair to say that this week has been one of highs and lows.
On Wednesday I attended a funeral following the untimely death of the husband of one of our Advisory Council members. Since the sad news was shared I've been overwhelmed by the messages of support demonstrating how caring and compassionate this credit community is. Sometimes, indeed, it takes a tragedy to make us realise just how fortunate we are, and it makes me proud to be leading an organisation that is so much more than 'just' a professional body.
Talking of the credit community I attended the inaugural conference of ICTF (Association of International Credit & Trade Finance Professionals) in Brussels. The conference very definitely seemed to deliver on its promise and it was good to meet with my colleagues on the international stage and be introduced to a number of people for the first time. The ICTF has got off to a most promising start and I look forward to working closely with them as they continue to evolve.
Continuing with the 'highs', there was considerable excitement with the 0.8% rise in GDP, a quarterly jump that was twice as fast as forecasters as predicted. I consider myself a realist so don't want to dampen the enthusiasm but perhaps this rise is telling us something? Perhaps it is saying we should take heart, and be encouraged by such positive news. But it might also be saying not to get too excited, since the cuts imposed by the spending review have yet to be felt.
In the circumstances, it's almost impossible to forecast with any degree of accuracy (the only consistency in forecasts is that they're generally proved to be wide of the mark!), so we are in uncharted waters. As such, we should continue applying all the principles we know are right to manage cashflow effectively and sustain our businesses. http://www.icm.org.uk/
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