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CBI issues swine flu alert

Source: The Guardian

Jul 04, 2009

Summary

Employers say firms must draw up plans to cope with pandemic

Businesses of all sizes should start making contingency plans to deal with the swine flu pandemic, after the government's warning that the number of people falling ill with the virus could soar to 100,000 a day by August, employers groups have warned.

With the government moving from attempts to contain the spread of the virus to a "treatment phase", the impact on businesses and the wider economy could be substantial.

Oxford Economics, an economic forecasting group, warned last month that global economic recovery could be slowed abruptly by swine flu and "companies that are already fragile after the recession may succumb to this new shock". It calculated that if the pandemic were to last six months, world GDP could be cut by £1.5tn - or 3.5% of GDP for 2009. The eurozone and the UK could lose 3% of GDP.

The forecasters said the pandemic could hit economic activity in "manifold" ways, including supply effects, such as people being unable to go to work, and demand effects, which will hit consumption, as p

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