In its submission, the employers group calls on the chancellor to focus on boosting exports, encouraging investment and removing barriers to high-growth companies.
EDITORS CHOICE
Prince Andrew to lead Saudi trade mission - Mar-06.Manufacturers forecast price rises - Mar-07.Trade route leads Cameron into awkward dilemma - Feb-25.Editorial: Hunt and Murdoch - Mar-03.Hiring blow for public sector jobless - Feb-20.Clegg seizes reins of green bank project - Feb-20..We need the same relentless determination from the chancellor that he has shown on deficit reduction to apply to the growth strategy, said John Cridland, CBI director-general.
summer fashion 2011
But in a sign of business concern about parts of the coalitions agenda, Mr Cridland warned that ministers desire to boost investment was on a collision course with the governments localism policy.
Mr Cridland welcomed assertions that the government was looking at the planning regime, but said: A business audience is going to be sceptical when it sees a localism bill in parliament thats abolishing the Infrastructure Planning Commission and abolishing regional planning.
He urged Mr Osborne to rule out the notion of freeing councils to set their own business rates, which the coalition is debating but which businesses fear would raise costs. He called for real fiscal incentives to increase councils appetite for development.
Mr Cridland said rising oil prices were a significant downside risk for the economy but not yet high enough for the CBI to downgrade its forecast of 1.8 per cent growth this year. The CBI was also keeping a close eye on the potential for a wage-price spiral as inflation rises.
The CBIs proposals include measures to help create a new corporate bond market for mid-caps and reversal of a 1bn-a-year stealth tax introduced in the spending review, which removed cash incentives under the governments carbon reduction commitment.
Mr Cridland urged the chancellor to signal a road map for eventual reduction of the 50p top rate of income tax, which he said was damaging the City and other parts of business.
He called for an emphasis on small mid-cap companies after evidence that a small number of them in a wide variety of sectors were responsible for most private sector job creation over the past decade.
power balance
Its my belief that the mid-cap in the UK is our forgotten army, Mr Cridland said. We dont talk about it in the way that Germans talk about their Mittelstand. We dont nurture those companies and we dont focus capital for development and government policies on those companies for growth.
The CBI proposes ways to improve mid-caps access to the corporate bond market, such as by simplifying documentation standards and providing guarantees for portfolios of securitised debt.
It urges Mr Osborne to make the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme available to companies whose assets are predominantly in intellectual property, and suggests improvements to the Enterprise Investment Scheme to bridge the funding gap for mid-size companies.
Mr Cridland said extra support for exporters announced through the Export Credits Guarantee Department must reach the businesses it is aimed at, and urged the coalition to press on with its plans to shake up the employment tribunal system.
The Department for Business said: The government agrees with the CBI on the importance of boosting exports, encouraging companies to invest at home, and ensuring high growth firms can realise their potential.
guess handbags
Through the growth review weve been challenging all parts of government on what they are doing to remove barriers to growth. Business has been closely involved in this process.
.Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.
