Dr Gertjan Vlieghe, one of the nine members of the Bank of England’s influential Monetary Policy Committee, has met with Invertek Drives to discuss the impact of monetary policy on UK manufacturing and exporting.
Dr Vlieghe’s visit is the latest in a series of regular meetings stretching back over a decade between the UK-based variable frequency drives (VFD) manufacturer and the Bank of England’s Agent in Wales, Ian Derrick.
It comes as Invertek Drives, headquartered at Welshpool, Powys, continues with its significant year-on-year investment plans yielding sales growth in excess of 15% (5 year CAGR), with over 91 per cent of its sales exported to more than 80 countries.
“Any change to UK monetary or fiscal policy has an impact on us as a global technology company, from decisions on where to locate overseas operations, to importing components to exporting our final products,” said Charles Haspel, Operations Director at Invertek Drives.
“Being able to discuss and demonstrate how monetary policy has impacted Invertek with Bank of England policy-makers is extremely important.”
Dr Vlieghe, an external member of the nine-person Monetary Policy Committee, led by Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, held a meeting with the directors of Invertek Drives. The meeting included a tour of existing facilities and a preview of the company’s new 5,500m2 facility, currently under construction and expected to open in late 2018 doubling capacity to 400,000 drives a year.
Dr Vlieghe said: “A key part of our job as MPC members is to understand the challenges and opportunities that UK businesses face, and how that drives their investment and hiring decisions. In that context, it was highly valuable to have detailed discussions with Invertek and a range of other businesses across Mid Wales in the past few days”.
Mr Haspel added: “Our regular meetings with the Bank of England enables them to understand how policy impacts our ability to grow and export and thus to create employment and prosperity.”
Mr Haspel said clarity was still needed from the UK government on Brexit before businesses like Invertek Drives could fully consider its impact, stressing the need for simple and easy access to the company’s much valued EU based customers.
