Shoppers urged to stay local this weekend as retailers feel 'sting' of Sterling

“Some of our members have already felt the sting of the drop in the value of Sterling,” said the president of the Cavan Chamber of Commerce as he called on shoppers to stay local this weekend and support their local economy.

Eddie Coleman was responding to the British people’s decision to exit Europe last week and the subsequent fall in Sterling against the Euro. The pound was worth 0.84 for a Euro today (Friday) with some economists forecasting Euro rates against Sterling at 0.92 within three months and parity inside a year.
On Tuesday morning of this week, half of the vehicles in the Asda carpark in Enniskillen were Southern reg cars.
The Cavan Chamber is urging shoppers to continue shopping locally to support retailers here and sustain the economy and jobs. “The biggest threat might bring 2009 to mind when people were flocking North to shop because of the very favourable exchange rates and shops across County Cavan were all but deserted. Since then we’ve seen a decent levelling out of trade with an increasing number of people looking this way to shop, holiday and even sight-see,” said Mr Coleman.
“Weak Sterling could significantly set back what we’ve finally started seeing in the way of our own economic recovery,” he said.
But the Chamber chief says there’s not much anyone can do for the moment other than “wait and see”.
Mr Coleman said that the Cavan Chamber will seek to clarify the needs and concerns of its member businesses with local Members of the Oireachtas. He also that, through Chambers Ireland, they would lobby the government to make sure the fallout from the referendum is minimised.
In terms of the short-term effect on businesses, Mr Coleman believes that any business with customers in the UK could find they are waiting longer to get paid by their UK-business customers who will have to come up with extra cash in order to pay more expensive Euro invoices.
This, in turn, could impact exports to the UK or the ability of businesses to grow their exports to that market.
“UK customers with bigger debts to Irish suppliers may also look for price reductions in order to keep their own prices competitive. If Irish businesses can’t hold the line, then profits could be hit hard. The timing couldn’t be much worse for our own modest recovery,” said Mr Coleman.

'Coller heads’ must prevail
The Chamber boss said that the Irish government now need to ensure that “cooler heads” in the EU prevail. “Any action that the EU might take to punish the British could be catastrophic for us. Border controls, tariffs, changes in customs’ procedures, anything like that would slow trade down and push costs up,” he remarked.
Long-term, Mr Coleman echoed the sentiments of Chambers Ireland - that the UK will continue to be a “key partner” for Ireland into the future.
“The EU and UK now need to focus on measured responses to limit future uncertainty and undertake a sensible, proportionate exit negotiation process that will work for all parties. A clear framework for a UK exit must be agreed and put in place that minimises disruption and enables businesses to plan for the new reality. The EU also needs to develop a new programme of reform to improve the functioning of the single market and the competitiveness of European business,” he said.
Mr Coleman is urging businesses in County Cavan, who feel they could be significantly impacted by Brexit, to update their contingency plans and perhaps look at options such as developing UK partnerships or subsidiaries and examine supply chain issues and transport routes.

Full full analysis of Brexit and how it impacts Cavan people and businesses, see this week's Anglo-Celt - in shops now.