Credit crunch 'will not be a catastrophe'

The credit crunch will not be a disaster for UK businesses, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has said today.

Richard Dodd, the BRC's head of media and campaigns, said that stricter lending conditions may lead to a reduction in hours for part-time staff and less money spent on training; however, he claimed the BRC would not be "expecting any sort of catastrophe".

"We are not expecting mass retail job losses, although there is going to be a slowdown in job creation in retail," he comments.

Mr Dodd added that the squeeze would impact on "middle-market retailers" most severely, but said he was hopeful that the economy would not stall altogether.

Speaking recently at the World Retail Congress in Barcelona, Sir Philip Green, chief executive of Arcadia and BHS, said that the retail market was as "tough" as he'd seen it.